Russia has attacked Ukraine. Here’s what you need to know about the crisis that could become Europe’s largest armed conflict since World War II...
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00:00Circumstances require decisive and immediate action from us.
00:04Who in the Lord's name does Putin think gives him the right to declare
00:09new so-called countries on territory that belong to his neighbours?
00:22Vladimir Putin's goal is very simple.
00:26He wants Ukraine to be politically under his control.
00:32And he wants Ukraine not to be able to make its own independent foreign policy decisions.
00:39That means not being able to join alliances that he doesn't want it to, like NATO.
00:56VLADIMIR PUTIN'S SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATIONS IN DONBASS
01:26The United States and the United States of America have already started
01:30forming an international support group.
01:32They just don't need a country as big and independent as Russia.
01:36This is the source of traditional American policy in the Russian direction.
01:42THE SECOND WORLD WAR
01:55Since the Second World War, the United States believes that we have upheld an order in Europe
02:03where wars of conquest between states have not been undertaken.
02:09And if one is now about to be embarked on by Vladimir Putin
02:14in order to solve his geopolitical dreams,
02:18this is believed by the US government to be a very dangerous outcome
02:24and a very poor auger for the future.
02:27THE POSSIBILITIES OF VLADIMIR PUTIN
02:36Vladimir Putin is obsessed with Ukraine
02:39and the idea that the country should be under some form or another
02:42of Russian domination or control.
02:44On one level, geopolitically, for men like Putin, it's very simple.
02:50Russia with Ukraine is an empire, potentially a superpower.
02:56Russia without Ukraine is just a big state.
03:00THE FUTURE OF NATO
03:18For the last few years, the Western allies have operated a fudge
03:24when it comes to Ukraine's potential membership of NATO.
03:29They've pushed it off far, far into the future,
03:32essentially making it a point of principle.
03:36But by keeping that point of principle open,
03:39they believe that they have kept the principle that Ukraine is a fully independent state
03:45with no Russian veto over its foreign policy alive.
03:49Unfortunately, Putin seems determined to force the issue now
03:54on the Western alliance at the point of war,
03:59meaning that Ukraine is placed in a very, very precarious and dangerous moment right now.
04:05THE FUTURE OF NATO
04:54RUSSIA WITHOUT UKRAINE
04:58This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
05:01Under the Minsk agreement, which neither side fulfilled,
05:06the idea was that Russia would withdraw its forces from eastern Ukraine
05:12and Ukraine would be allowed to re-enter these territories,
05:17but they would be given autonomy.
05:19What Putin has done is rip up this agreement that was never implemented by either side
05:26by recognising these puppet republics as independent states.
05:31That means that there's no possibility now of that agreement
05:35becoming a peaceful settlement to the conflict.
05:38But more worryingly, Putin, in a series of extremely intense, aggressive and indeed snarling speeches,
05:47has made it clear that he's setting up the case for military action across the whole of Ukraine.
05:52THE FUTURE OF EUROPE
05:56How far Putin will go, we don't really know,
05:59but there could be many millions of people moving towards the European Union
06:05in the next few weeks or months, if he goes ahead.
06:10The second major shock that will hit the world
06:13if this terrible invasion does go ahead with its full force,
06:17is a global inflationary shock.
06:32President Biden has made it very clear that because Ukraine is not a member of the NATO defence alliance,
06:38he will not be intervening in Ukraine to stop Vladimir Putin,
06:42even if he invades and topples government in Kiev.
06:47However, the West might, after an invasion and occupation,
06:52continue to supply the Ukrainians with an escalating amount of weaponry.
06:57This could take the form, for example, of backing a long-term insurgency in Ukraine against a Russian occupation.
07:03This has been discussed and planned in Washington and in London.
07:08And that could eventually cost the Russian army a large amount of troops.