Time for a short history lesson for context

From the 14th to the 18th century, portions of Ukraine were ruled by Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. In addition, Cossacks controlled a largely self-governing territory known as the Hetmanate. Most of Ukraine fell to Russian rule in the 18th century.

In 1922, Ukraine and Russia were two of the founding members of the USSR. They were then joint signatories of the treaty that terminated the Soviet Union in December 1991 as part of their Declaration of Independence.

It is worthy of note, during the era of the Russian Empire the Ukrainian language was banned and Ukrainian was not widely spoken until after independence. During the 1990s there was turmoil and unrest as a newly independent nation found its feet.

The west was very concerned about the political volatility and was desperate to remove the nuclear weapons they inherited from the USSR. In 1994, the US, UK and Russia were signatories to the Budapest Memorandum. In short, the agreement stated Ukraine would hand over their inherited nuclear weapons. In return, they received recognition of sovereignty from Russia, and the offer of security ‘assurances’ against future Russian aggression.

The Ukrainian government introduced political and economic reforms. This resulted in civil unrest culminating in mass protests in 2004, following the disputed general election. This became known as the Orange Revolution. The uprising was short lived and left the country divided along regional and ethnic lines.

In 2014 there was a further uprising, this time centered on Kyiv’s Independence Square. It led to the toppling of the government. The interim administration struggled to maintain control. As a result, the Russian Army occupied the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea. Subsequently, Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and was annexed by Russia. The U.S. and UK reneged on the Budapest Memorandum, sighting an ‘assurance’ was not a ‘guarantee’. This was a betrayal.

It is correct that Zelensky was a comedian with no political experience when he announced that he would be running in Ukraine's 2019 presidential election. He like Trump was a TV personality, playing a school teacher who was catapulted into the presidency on the TV series, Servant of the People.

He was elected with a landslide 73% of the vote. Prior to the election Russian social media and internet services were put under sanctions in 2017 by former president Petro Poroshenko to protect people from companies “whose activities threaten information and the cyber security of Ukraine”.

As a result of recommendations from both Ukraine’s security service SBU and the Parliament’s Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence,

Sanctions were extended on May 14, 2020 for another three years not because the CIA ordered it, but as a result of a majority vote in Ukraine’s Rada (Parliament).

There had long been problems with corruption in Ukraine. In 2016, the respected measure of corruption Transparency International (TI) measured Ukraine as corrupt as Russia. Since then, Ukraine has made great strides combating corruption, with 11 consecutive years of improving its ranking in the index.

Despite persistent allegations of corruption against Zelenskyy, there’s no verifiable evidence to support these claims. He has served his country with distinction, polls showing his favorability rating at around 57%. Accusations accusing Zelenskyy of money laundering, have been fact checked and found to be false.

The disinformation is coming from hard right conspiracy theorists amplified by Russian troll farms. Zelenskyy is NOT a CIA plant, he’s just a president trying to do the best he can for his people. You only have to look at his face to see how he’s aged over the 3 years of the war. The toll it has taken is etched on his face for all to see.

The U.S. ranks 28th in the TI Index, behind most of Its European and NATO allies, with Denmark 🇩🇰 holding the prestigious No 1 slot for least corrupt. There really is a sad irony in the amount of attacks on my content in relation to the illegal invasion of Ukraine. Almost all aside from the vile personal attacks, emanate from a country who rank behind mine and my European neighbors.

I provide this very brief summary, only as context to my wider commentary on the conflict which I have been posting on since it started. It is not designed to be a definitive history, but merely a truncated timeline within the context of this illegal war.