By: MICHELLE PARK
Staff Writer
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and it is still going on. Nearly 5,800 people have died in that war. War inflicts a lot of damage on the country: debt, death of people, and destruction of infrastructure. Nevertheless, why does Russia continue to invade Ukraine? Russia has been competing with the U.S. since the Soviet Union. They competed in increasing their territory and spreading their political theory(Democracy and Communism), but many other countries joined the US’s side, signing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. Even countries that were part of the Soviet Union, such as Estonia, Lithuania, and Austria joined NATO, and Ukraine tried to join as well. Ukraine is a strategically important country as it is a gateway from Asia to Europe. Also, if Ukraine joins NATO, U.S. militaries will be deployed right next to Russia. Russia’s position would then be threatened because the U.S. could attack. From the standpoint of the United States or NATO, if Ukraine is on the U.S. side, it can occupy an advantageous position. Therefore, Russia repeatedly said that Ukraine should never join NATO, but Ukraine continued to try to join NATO. Eventually, Russia began to block Ukraine’s actions with force.