Why is Russia invading Ukraine and what does Putin want?
What you should know about the reasons given for Russia's militar...
BBC News
Why is Russia invading Ukraine and what does Putin want?
By Paul Kirby
BBC News
By air, land, and sea, Russia has launched a devastating attack on Ukraine, a European democracy of 44 million people, and its forces are on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv.
For months, President Vladimir Putin denied he would invade his neighbour, but then he tore up a peace deal, sending forces across borders in Ukraine's north, east and south.
As the number of dead climbs, he stands accused of shattering peace in Europe. What happens next could jeopardise the continent's entire security structure.
Why have Russian troops attacked?
Russian troops are advancing on Ukraine's capital from several directions after Russia's leader ordered the invasion. In a pre-dawn TV address on 24 February, he declared Russia could could not feel "safe, develop and exist" because of what he claimed was a constant threat from modern Ukraine.
Airports and military headquarters were hit first, near cities across Ukraine, then tanks and troops rolled into Ukraine from the north, east and south - from Russia and its ally Belarus.
Many of President Putin's arguments were false or irrational. He claimed his goal was to protect people subjected to bullying and genocide and aim for the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine. There has been no genocide in Ukraine: it is a vibrant democracy, led by a president who is Jewish.
"How could I be a Nazi?" said Volodymr Zelensky, who likened Russia's onslaught to Nazi Germany's invasion in World War Two.
By recognising the separatist areas controlled by Russian proxies as independent, Mr Putin was telling the world they were no longer part of Ukraine. Then he revealed that he supported their claims to far more Ukrainian territory.
The self-styled people's republics cover little more than a third of the whole of Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions, but the rebels covet the rest, too.
How dangerous is this invasion for Europe?
These are terrifying times for the people of Ukraine and horrifying for the rest of the continent, witnessing a major power invading a European neighbour for the first time since World War Two.
Dozens have died already in what Germany has dubbed "Putin's war", both civilians and soldiers. And for Europe's leaders, this invasion has brought some of the darkest hours since the 1940s.
It was, said France's Emmanuel Macron, a turning point in Europe's history. Recalling the Cold War days of the Soviet Union, Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of Ukraine's bid to avoid a new iron curtain closing Russia off from the civilised world.
IMAGE SOURCE, EPA
The Russian city of St Petersburg will no longer be able to host this year's Champions League final for security reasons.
トータル
※コメント投稿者のブログIDはブログ作成者のみに通知されます