After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine wished to remain politically and militarily neutral, not aligning with either NATO or Russia. Ukraine even went as far as to get rid of it’s nuclear weapons for the sake of global stability.

After the Chechen war, the war in Syria, the war in Georgia, the annexation of Crimea, and the Russian support of Insurgents in the Donbas, both Poroshenko and Zelenskyy sought NATO membership. With Putin outwardly expressing desires both to re-acquire former USSR territories, but also threatening to invade other non-NATO nations, should they attempt to become a part of NATO, tensions continue to mount. Moldova, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and even current Baltic NATO nations bordering Kalingrad and Russia are on high alert.

The two premises that Putin gave for the context for his invasion was 1.) the buffer, and 2.) the cultural significance that Ukraine means to Russia. Why did the former USSR states, that significantly reduced the buffer between NATO and RUSSIA, decide to join NATO in the first place? Could it be that these nations wanted their own freedom and independence from a nation that ruthlessly subjugated them for decades? Could it be that the world feared global expansion of communism by the former USSR as being the wrongful aggressors, and thus don’t trust the current Russian Federation? Could it be that these nations still feared the mighty Russian army? Could it be that even after the fall of the USSR, Russia and NATO both still had tens of thousands of nuclear warheads aimed mutually at one another? If Russia lost relations with former USSR nations and lost its once wide buffer between western Europe, it is its own fault, and perhaps should consider a more peaceful relations with the world, and should set the pace for nuclear disarmament along with other nations.

But one thought is very concerning, and that is this: Would NATO ever tolerate or allow Russia to take over Ukraine completely, and thus reduce the buffer to the advantage of Russia? And then allow Russia to conquer other nations, NATO or not? At what point would NATO intervene directly, if at all?