On Feb. 24, Russia invaded its neighboring country, Ukraine. Since then, there have been many changes, including economic sanctions placed upon Russia, speeches shared by national leaders, and more and more deaths.

The story of this invasion has been going on since 2014, when Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 20, 2014, resulting in the Russian annexation of Crimea. Now eight years later, what does President Vladimir Putin want? President Putin has long believed that Ukraine and Russia are one, and so Ukraine should be under the control of Russia. Meanwhile, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has been expanding.

“Putin has seen NATO’s expansion as an existential threat, and the prospect of Ukraine joining the Western military alliance a “hostile act”,” writes Eliza Mackintosh and Rob Picheta from CNN.

In November 2021, Russia had already started to move troops along its border with Ukraine. At that time, the U.S. and other NATO allies warned Russia that sanctions would be placed if they were to advance. 

On Feb. 8, the French President Emmanuel Macron stated that in his talk with Putin, Putin had assured there would be no new attacks on Ukraine. 

He also promised that “the thousands of Russian troops massed in Belarus to the north of Ukraine would leave after exercises ended there” in February. 

Putin declared a “special military operation” on Feb. 24, allegedly to “protect people from a genocide in Ukraine”. Russian forces were slowly heading toward Kyiv, the capital. As of now, the convoy near Kyiv is said to be more than 40 miles long.

The Biden Administration responded with economic sanctions. 

For example, they banned the “Russian energy company Gazprom, the oil pipeline company Transneft, and the power company RusHydro”, according to Jon Henley from The Guardian. 

The United Kingdom and EU have banned Russian airlines and private jets, and other European Airlines said that they will be stopping routes to Russia. In sports, the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League final was moved from Ukraine to Paris, and International Federation of Association Football and UEFA have banned Russian teams from all competitions. 

Ukraine Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that although he assumes he and his family are Russia’s “Target No. 1 and Target No. 2”, he and his family will not be leaving Kyiv. They are hiding in a secret location. The death toll in Ukraine is at least 352 civilians dead, with more than half a million refugees having fled Ukraine.

It is unclear as to when this fighting will end, as things are still escalating. What is known for certain, however, is that if Putin keeps making moves on Ukraine, Russia will face even larger consequences.

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