Recently, Russia is making demands on Ukraine to lower tensions with any outside forces from the U.S. and within Europe. The demands Russia asked were for banning Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as forcing Ukraine to sign an eight-point draft treaty and having their focus on the border of Ukraine reduced. Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, called western countries to give aid, by any chance Russia ever decided to go on the offensive.

“It’s possible, I hope not, I know NATO and its allies and United States included are trying really hard to do that, yes we are doing sanctions, yes we are doing things to punish them, but were not escalating things for conflict, I know we don’t want to do that, and I don’t think Putin wants to do that and any other conflict from that point can potentially raise it to nuclear threat because that’s all Putin seems to have at this moment.”  John W North LAPS History Teacher Mr. Saucedo.

The fixation Putin and most Russians have on Ukraine is because most of their history comes from people who were born and raised in Ukraine and they saw Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, as their birthplace to many famous people. Russia has always viewed Ukraine as its own extension of its nation.

On Tuesday, February 22, 2022 President Biden announced new sanctions that will punish Russia for trying to take over Ukraine. The world will see if the conflict could escalate into war and many eastern countries could be seen trying to get used to the new lifestyle, some places don’t have water and electricity after a Artillery shell has knocked out power lines and supplies.

Many people’s lives in Ukraine have been changed by the constant shooting of guns, sirens blaring as aircraft fly, bombs being exploded, civilians getting shot, and being in constant fear. Civilians have fled away from Ukraine to take shelter in places where the U.S. has set up to keep people safe.

“They have agreed on a temporary cease of fire which is good, but beyond that, I don’t know [if] Putin is big on being perceived as strong and perceptive so if he were to just leave without getting anything out of this, he not going to  go for that so either the pressure is gonna get on him from internationally and more importantly from home for him to do peace.”  Mr. Saucedo says.

To this day, the Russian-Ukrainian war is still ongoing. According to CNN, Ukraine has been holding up against the Russian military, forcing Russia to create new strategies. Countries have been working towards slowing Russia by cutting trade ties with them. Ukraine and its allies are hopeful on working towards a peace treaty with President Putin and Russia. Young adults who are scared of the situation don’t have to fear being anywhere involved with the fight since the military won’t draft any young adults into the frontlines. To students at North HS who are planning to join the military and who already signed in also don’t have to fear going into the fight straight off the bat. Teens who just turned 18 have to sign up for a draft into the military through post office or online and only males have to sign up since it’s only mandatory for males while females don’t have to sign up. Chrissy Houlahan wanted to add a amendment that requires women and anyone from any gender to register for the draft, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) later didn’t allow the