Russia Orders ‘Special Military Operation’ In Ukraine

Topline

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine early Thursday, a chilling announcement that was immediately followed by reports of explosions across Ukraine, propelling the country into war after months of massive Russian troop buildups.

Key Facts

Chief Critic

In a statement, U.S. President Joe Biden denounced Putin’s actions and vowed to impose additional sanctions for the “needless act of aggression” on Ukraine. “President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden said. “Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way.”

Surprising Fact

Putin launched the attack during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York called to deal with the Ukraine crisis. Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, denounced Russia’s actions in a fiery speech: “There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell,” he said. Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya—who currently serves as the Security Council’s chair—responded by denying that Russia declared war, insisting Putin’s “special military operation” is somehow distinct from a war.

Tangent

Shortly before Putin announced the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a final plea for peace in a late-night speech. Zelenskyy said he attempted to contact Putin, but the Kremlin didn’t respond.

Key Background

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a tense relationship since 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, an area roughly the size of Vermont whose 2.4 million inhabitants are mostly ethnic Russians. Russian troops and military hardware were also deployed eight years ago in support of separatists in the Donbas, an area of Ukraine bordering Russia, though the Kremlin officially denied participating in the conflict. In December, Russia moved about 100,000 troops close to its border with Ukraine, a number that swelled to more than 150,000 by last week according to the U.S., prompting the White House to warn that Russia could launch an attack justified by a “false-flag” operation portraying Ukraine as the aggressor. Violations of a ceasefire in the Donbas have become more frequent over the last week, a trend U.S. officials viewed as an attempt by Russia to create a pretext for war. On Monday, Putin said Russia will recognize the independence of Ukraine’s partially separatist-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and accused Ukraine of military aggression, a move the White House called a likely prelude to invasion, though the Kremlin has dismissed concerns about a Russian invasion of Ukraine as “madness and scaremongering.” American and European officials have searched for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but Russia has continued to push for Ukraine to be barred from joining NATO, a demand the U.S. and its allies have not accepted.

What To Watch For

Reactions from Western governments. The U.S. and its allies’ responses to Russian aggression so far have ranged from supplying the Kyiv government with weapons to halting the activation of Nord Stream 2, an $11 billion natural gas pipeline connecting Russia to Germany—a move that threatens to deprive Russia of tens of billions of dollars in natural gas revenue. NATO announced January 24 that member states had sent ships and fighter jets to Lithuania and Bulgaria in response to the crisis. Though U.S. troops have been deployed to Eastern European NATO allies, Biden has ruled out the possibility of deploying U.S. troops to defend Ukraine or to evacuate Americans, arguing a clash between U.S. and Russian troops would spark “a world war.”