Why did Russia attack Ukraine?

Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 when it gained independence. Now it's seen by both the western world and Russia as a buffer between the two.
Why did Russia attack Ukraine?
Located in eastern Europe, Ukraine is the second largest country by land in the area, surpassed only by its neighbor, Russia.

It was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 when it gained independence. Now it's seen by both the western world and Russia as a buffer between the two.

In 2014, Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president was replaced with a government more friendly to the West. A sign of Russia’s fading power in eastern Europe.

If Russia successfully invades, other former Soviet republics could start feeling the heat.
Diplomats have said this is the most tenuous situation since the end of the Cold War. At the birth of that conflict, the U.S. helped form the security alliance called NATO. Its goal was to protect members from threats by communist countries.

Now it includes three former Soviet republics and Ukraine has made moves to join.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that not happen, sparking this conflict.

An invasion could have a big economic impact.

According to the New York Times, Russia supplies about one-third of Europe’s gas and a lot of it is shipped through Ukraine.

If that supply chain was disrupted, it could drive oil prices up around the world.

An invasion could also drive up food prices. The Black Sea is a major route for the world’s grain supply. Since it borders both Russia and Ukraine, global food costs could climb.

[jimshaw]

Not once in this entire video did they explain why Russia attacked Ukraine.

[MrCallememike]

Misleading title. The question never answered in this piece.

[AndreaSimone]

borrowed; "A history lesson for anyone wondering what all the fuss is about. This invasion is a HUGE deal and will have worldwide repercussions.
For those who ask: “Why does Ukraine matter?”
This is why Ukraine matters:
It is the second-largest country by area in Europe by area and has a population of over 40 million - more than Poland.
Ukraine ranks:
🌐 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
🌐2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
🌐2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world's reserves);
🌐2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
🌐2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
🌐3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
🌐4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
🌐7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)

Ukraine is an important agricultural country:

🌐1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
🌐3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world's volume);
🌐1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
🌐2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
🌐3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
🌐4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
🌐5th largest rye producer in the world;
🌐5th place in the world in bee production (75, 000 tons);
🌐8th place in the world in wheat exports;
🌐9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
🌐16th place in the world in cheese exports.
Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
Ukraine is an important industrialized country:
🌐1st in Europe in ammonia production;
Europe's 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system;
🌐3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
🌐3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21, 700 km);
🌐3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
🌐3rd largest iron exporter in the world
🌐4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
🌐4th world's largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
🌐4th place in the world in clay exports
🌐4th place in the world in titanium exports
🌐8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
🌐9th place in the world in exports of defense industry products;
🌐10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).
Ukraine matters. That is why its independence is important to the rest of the world.

[musikSkool]

Why can't we sue people for making a title that asks a question and then doesn't answer it? I would classify it as lying, which I am pretty sure is illegal, right? Their only way out is if they make the title like "Why did this happen? We have no clue and are wasting your time."

[michaelrusso]

I wasted nearly a minute and a half before I realized these two weren’t going to tell me.

[valmid]

*Condolences for any lives lost in this new conflict*

[georgegazafi]

We have nothing to do with Ukraine! We have lots of problems here, we should solve these!!!

[thatdude]

I remember President Biden saying that when he is in office Putin's days of being a bully are over. He sure showed him.

[carlospineda]

I think this news source is also wondering “why did Russia attack Ukraine?”

[Toshiro]

They didn’t explain why Russia invaded Ukraine, so I guess I will.

The US supported a coup in 2014, which overthrew the democratically elected leader of Ukraine and installed a far-right wing, anti-Russian government, which in part is comprised of neo-Nazis (eg. look up Azov Battalion). Since 2014, this right wing government has attacked the ethnically Russian minority, which is concentrated in eastern Ukraine (Donbas). After a civil war ensued, Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine got together (the “Normandy Format”) to come up with an agreement called the Minsk Protocols, which establishes two break-away regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, as autonomous regions with the goal of reintegrating these regions back to Ukraine in full in the future. However, the right-wing Ukrainian government quickly broke this agreement and began bombing these two regions of mostly ethnic Russians. On top of all this, the right wing Ukrainian US-backed government is very keen on joining NATO, a military alliance whose very function was to counter the Soviet Union. The whole NATO expansion situation goes back to when Secretary of State Baker verbally promised Gorbachev that NATO would not expand an inch eastward after Germany reunified. We know now they not only broke this promise, but have expanded NATO all the way to Russia’s border. Putin had made it clear in the negotiations b/w the US in the past months that this is a red line, and that he wants a written agreement that this will never happen. To put this into perspective, remember the Cuban missile crisis, and how the US tried to to invade Cuba.

Now, what’s happening is a result of the US and NATO refusing to agree that NATO will not expand further as well as the shelling of women and children in Donabas (Putin called it a genocide, but that’s going too far). And we also know that the CIA and private American militias have been training these nationalists both in Ukraine and the US. And there have also been reports of ISIS being involved. This whole invasion, in Putin’s own words, is not to occupy Ukraine, but to protect the ethnic Russian minorities in Donbas.

If you ask my opinion, do I like what’s going on right now? Of course not. Is this a breach of international law? Arguably so. But the US was breaching international law too - in a much more egregious way. And the US-backed Ukrainian government has also been committing war crimes (a UN dadtasheet reveals that 80% of the strikes in this conflict came from the Ukrainian government, and around 80% of casualties were of the people of Donbas). But the context is critical, and so is the criminal role of the US. I know we’re hearing reports that Kiev is being bombed right now. I sure hope that Putin is not taking his troops all the way into Kiev, but we have to recognize that this was entirely avoidable if the US and NATO actually took the talks with Russia seriously, and of course, hadn’t interferes at that region in the first place. We must do everything we can to keep two nuclear powers from going into war. That would be a sure catastrophe for all of us.

[crashlag]

Prayers for anyone who is caught in this pointless fight. And for those Russians
who are against this war we hear you.

[phyllisdevries]

This makes me so sad. My heart is with them.

[robertmitchell]

My 25 Years of military service from 70-95 leads me to believe he wants to restore the Soviet Union.

[anasdomain]

So this is what I can gather on what is going on:

1. Ukraine has been in civil war with east and west. East wants to join Russia and west wants to join nato. Russia doesn’t want them to join nato so he’s attacked.
2. Ukraine cut off a water supply to a city in Russia and it is hurting the economy, so attack.

3. Ukraine broke a treaty and something about defending Russians in Ukraine…idk

I don’t really know what is true or not it’s hard to find both sides of the story. You can add more if you know what is going on. Prayers to Ukraine I wish this violence wouldn’t have happened.

[iamhudsdent]

The lady "newscaster" pronounced Belarus like she never heard of the country before. She pronounced it as if it rhymes with Polaris. It's BELL UH ROOS, accent on the 3rd syllable, of course.

[alex-shanghai]

The editor planned to explain why Russia attacks Ukraine, then they found it's against political correctness, so nothing is mentioned in the video :)

[ПавелКольцов-гс]

The first is 8 years of civil war in the east of Ukraine, which completely got out of control of the Ukrainian authorities and called themselves independent people's republics (DPR and LPR). In addition, mostly Russians live there. In general, there are many Russians in Ukraine, most of all in the east and in the Crimea. These hostilities began with Russia's recognition of the independence of those same republics, and, accordingly, military assistance to them.

The second is the statements of Zelensky (the president of Ukraine) that Ukraine will soon have a nuclear weapon.

These are the official reasons for what is actually happening between the elites of different parties, no one knows, of course.

[CaseyTheBunny]

American needs the pre-ww2 attitude of "Not my problem". We've been in near constant conflict since.

[jrbland]

PRAYING for all the PEOPLE in UKRAINE. SHAME on PUTIN.

[elcid]

Answer. Russia - Putin needs a buffer state between Russia and NATO. Russia suffered 20 million dead during WWII.