Russia launched a full scale invasion into Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This didn’t come as a surprise to anyone
who keeps up with the news, as they had been increasing their military presence on their Ukrainian border for months, and spoke of reuniting the USSR for years now.

Ukraine has been a widely recognized country with sovereignty since 1991, however, Russia still feels as if they have claim to it. This is an unjust claim, as the country is largely ethnic Ukrainian and is a self-sustaining state with a functioning government. Russia has no right to take it.

Russia is now facing backlash from the international community, with no prominent countries backing Russia begins invasion of Ukraine starting war between countries them up. Many people feel as if NATO should intervene, as Ukraine stands little chance of fighting Russia on their own. Hundreds of Ukrainian citizens have been killed in the conflict, many cities have been bombed, about a million Ukranians have fled their homeland, and the city of Kherson has been taken.

It seems like an easy decision: help Ukraine. However, Putin has promised that  if any country comes to the
military aid of Ukraine, he will attack them as well. Not only that, but Ukraine is not a part of NATO, meaning they are not required to help. If Russia just takes Ukraine, it sets this precedent that larger countries can bully and take smaller countries and NATO will stand back and let it happen. Considering China still refuses to recognize Taiwan, sending this message could cause many problems in the future.

However, this does not mean NATO should just stand back as Ukrainians are killed and run out of their home land. It is useless to wonder about the what ifs of the future, when the now is happening. What Russia is doing is inhumane, and Putin should face the consequences.

Speaking of consequences, sanctions are not very helpful. They only hurt the Russian citizens, and many of them openly have protested the war and said they don’t want to fight or invade Ukraine. Punishing them over Putin’s actions is also wrong, and it doesn’t put pressure on him the way many people think it does because Putin does not care about his citizens.

President Joe Biden stated in his State of the Union address, “Let me be clear – our forces are not engaged and will
not engage in the conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine.” When asked what they thought the best course of action was, freshman Gabriela Acevedo said, “The US should definitely intervene. Ukraine has attempted to join the EU and Russia is what’s stopping them. We need to help to an extent because Russia’s insane but abandoning people who need help won’t bring progress.”