Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine? And other questions
Are Russian forces getting ready for war in Ukraine? That is certainly the fear among Western leaders and in Ukraine. It was only seven years ago that Russia seized part of southern Ukraine and backed separatists who started a conflict in large areas of the east. Russia is threatening military measures and the US says if it invades then it will hit back with sanctions on an unprecedented scale, so what is going on? Where is Ukraine? Ukraine shares borders with both the EU and Russia, but as a former Soviet republic it has deep social and cultural ties with Russia and Russian is widely spoken there. Russia has long resisted Ukraine's move towards European institutions. When Ukrainians deposed their pro-Russian president in 2014, Russia seized and then annexed the southern Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists captured large swathes of Ukraine's two eastern regions collectively known as the Donbas. Moscow is now demanding guarantees that its neighbour wi...