What most people miss about the war in Ukraine

The conflict in Ukraine is more than just Russian aggression. It's deep historical roots are causing a modern-day struggle over what kind of country Ukraine should be. Vox's Amanda Taub explains.

[jaycubz]

1:44
This is not an actual historical map, it is a piece of alternate history from Deviantart. A small detail, but an important one.

[klempaijozef]

so basically... international law matters only when it fits US interests.

[gordonf]

great use of that alternate history map at 1:44

[GingerSnap]

When it comes to language, it's not simply East-West linguistic division. The first thing is, in most cities all across Ukraine there is more Russian-speakers but there's more Ukrainian-speakers overall: Ukrainian dominates most of the rural area in Ukraine, including the Eastern perts. The second thing is that most Russian-speakers in Ukraine still identify themselves as ethnic Ukrainians: if you take Kyiv, the capital, for example, there's more than 80% Ukrainians, more than 70% of those who claim their mother tongue is Ukrainian but in fact you're much more likely to hear Russian in the streets of the city. And the last thing to take into consideration is that while there is a certain correlation between language and political views, there were also loyal Ukrainian-speaking members of pro-Russian Yanukovych government and actually a half of those who fight for Ukrainian side in the war on Donbas speak Russian. So you can't divide Ukraine into "Russian" and "Ukrainian" parts that easily: aside from natural transitional dialects between the close languages, they both mix and interact on every level. The language itself would never be the case if not for the polititians who preserved and highlighted the division for the sake of their political ambitions which came to extreme in the years of Yanukovych.

[yarkoshum]

I'm ukainian and i might not like every statement in this video, but in general, this is pretty accurate way to explain, really complicated situation and processes in Ukraine we got now, in just a few words

[tract]

Although most of what's been said in the video is valid and unbiased, I would like to stress a a couple of important things:
- speaking Russian is not equal to being Russian ethnically or culturally; there's actually quite a large portion of Russian-speaking people from the east of Ukraine that feel very strongly about their Ukrainian identity, considering Ukrainian as their native language even though speaking Russian most of the time.
- this divide mentioned in the video is a bit exagerrated; it does exist, but is not as pronounced and crucial as one may think; actually, for many years it was artificially intensified by unscrupulous politicians to obtain personal dividends in the form of being elected.
- separatist sentiments do exist in Donbas and in the Crimea, but, again, it's hard to say how the situation would develop without Russian interference; it's quite possible it wouldn't go beyond protests and a peaceful solution.

[MindzEnt]

Russian involvement in Ukraine has everything to do with strategic locations, if you think Putin is doing this for the sole benefit of the people you're sadly mistaken.

[unbekanntchamela]

0:12 nice a german ww2 tank with a russia flag

[YusufNasihi]

No mention of the status of Crimea either in modern times or during Soviet times?

[HisEarth]

Here is a better title:
*What Americans miss about the war in Ukraine*

[corey]

It's a 3 minute video, from 5 years ago, just trying to provide some quick extra info for people to consider. That's it.

Yet people complain & expect every little detail of a long, complex, geopolitical conflict to be detailed?

The entire rest of YouTube & the internet exist for a reason... If you're THAT interested, do your own research instead of expecting a documentary in 3 mins.

[bananatube]

There's very little news on the conflict

[Austintation]

At first glance I thought this was saying 'what most people miss' as in longing, or nostalgia, but then I got to the end of the sentence

[antonleimbach]

This completely fails to mention the fact that a Russian fleet is harbored at Sevastopol. This is Russia's only mainland port that has a link to the Med.

[agentsmidt]

You can't put the words "wrong" and "right" in the same sentence as "international law". We all know "international law" is what Washington says.

[anethum]

Wow, good that you mentioned russification.

[sasha]

Let me start from that I am Ukrainian. I am from the region which according to this video tends towards Russia, however in reality people are against such a friendship. The main point of the video is based on the historical language difference, however there are countries where people speak several languages and are OK with that, e.g., Switzerland. I find that this a very weak argument and a whole video is simply a work of armatures which have no idea what is going on.

[BogdanGusiev]

I am from Crimea and my wife is from Lugansk (probably the city with the largest separatism movement). 

Here is our family opinion: Regions that want to be independent from Kiev are seeking for another more rich patron to feed them: same situation in criteria and the east Ukraine. These are the most depressed and subsided regions. The level of education and culture there is the lowest in entire country. From the economy stand point, their independence is impossible.


"Cultural, Linguistics and Economical differences"  really existed in president election in 2010. But in 5 year our country made a great progress in reaching the compromise. In the most recent presided election, the country was more united than ever where current president got 54.7% of votes while his most successful opponent got only 12.8%. That is a huge a progress in the development of the national goals and priorities.

I am a Russian native speak and I've never been discriminated in any part of the country. Russian in ex USSR is like English in the world.  
Any educated person in Ukraine speaks 3 languages: Russian, Ukrainian and English. 
People I know that felt that that Russia is more convenient place to live just moved there without asking Russia to come and take them.

Right now, these differences are just a cover for stupidity and inability to resolve conflicts by people that prefer a war over a dialog. Fortunately, there are only 3 regions left where such people take majority of population. And that's also for a reason: USSR was a terrible place that devastated humanity and culture of people who leaved there. You can see the confirmation of this fact by comparing the cultural and economic level to the number of year country spent as USSR member. There is a clear trend that - than less you were in USSR than better for you.

[JK_]

There are a lot of Putin supporters in here....

[jorisdietz]

Wow, the video animations are just very good, and I have also learned some things. Good job!!