#8 The Annexation of Crimea and the War in the Donbas
In 2014, Ukraine saw a popular revolution that took down the pro-Russian president of the time and brought forward democratic forces – something that was confirmed through a presidential election and parliament approval. During this time of uncertainty, Russia saw an opportunity and stepped in, trying to get Crimea to become part of Russia, as they were always interested in the strategic position of the peninsula.
They went into Crimea, hoping they would be backed by the pro-Russian population, and organized a so-called referendum – which many call a sham – that yielded implausible results. The world, minus a few communist and pro-Russian states, condemns this illegal annexation. Seeing as the local Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activists were militating for truth and freedom, Russian authorities came in to repress them and brought in the army to support pro-Russian separatists.
This sparked a war between the Ukrainians and the invading troops from Russia in the Donbas region: the active war phase lasted until the fall of 2015, reigniting in 2017 and early 2020. This ended up displacing 1.5 million people and killing about 14,000. Russian forces have not left the region since they invaded it in 2014.
