BLOG: Ukraine-Russia Conflict Mapped
A timeline
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday 24-Feb-22 came as weeks of intense diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia failed to deter Putin, who had amassed between 150,000 and 200,000 soldiers along the borders of Ukraine.
Here is a brief timeline explaining the key moments in history:
| 1922 Russia and Ukraine became two of the founding members of the Soviet Union. | |
| 1932-1933 A famine caused by Stalin’s policy of collectivization kills millions of people, mainly ethnic Ukrainians in a country that is known as the bread basket of the Soviet Union. The disaster is known as the Holodomor. | |
| 1941-1944 Nazi Germany and the Axis powers occupy the country during World War II. | |
| 1991 The Soviet Union is terminated via a treaty. Ukraine becomes independent and begins a transition to a market economy. It also comes into possession of a significant stockpile of nuclear weapons that had belonged to the Soviet Union. | |
| 1994 Under the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine gives up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for a commitment from Moscow “to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine”. | |
| 2014-2015 Russia annexes the Crimean Peninsula. Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany sign a series of cease-fire agreements known as the Minsk Accords. Many view these accords as ambiguous. | |
| 2019 A former comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, is elected by a large majority as president of Ukraine on a promise to restore Donbas to the country. | |
| 2021-2022 President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia seeks to prevent Ukraine’s drift toward the United States and its allies. Mr. Putin demands “security guarantees”, including an assurance by NATO that Ukraine will never join the group and that the alliance pulls back troops stationed in countries that joined after 1997. | |
| 24 February 2022 Russia invades Ukraine – referred to as a “special military operation”. |
Maps and Infographics
Some maps and infographics highlighting the situation in the region.
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an international alliance that consists of 30 member states from Europe, North America, and Asia. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949 with 12 founding member states. Of the 30 member countries, 27 are mainly located in Europe, two in North America, and one in Asia.
Source: The Economist
MINSK ACCORDS: Interpretation of the agreements by Kyiv and Moscow have been fundamentally different referred to as the “Minsk conundrum”.
Source: Sky News
AIRSPACE: Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights on 24-Feb-22.
Source: flightradar24
The “Map of Sanctions” – Russia Boycott
As at 09-Mar-22, there were 308 global organisations boycotting Russia, inflicting growing economic sanctions against the former, in solidarity with Ukraine. These organisations include technology companies, automotive manufacturers, financial services, sports federations, fashion and luxury goods retailers, and many more. These organisations are headquartered across 32 countries.
Check out MapAid’s “Map of Sanctions” – Boycott Russia interactive map now:
