We break down the war in Ukraine and the motivation for the Russian invasion of the country.
We break down the war in Ukraine and the motivation for the Russian invasion of the country.
* If you have a question about war, or if there’s something else going on in the world that you want us to break down, write to us or record a message and email us at listen@akidsco.com.
Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are found and check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
Sarah Jones Breaks It Down: A Kids News Podcast
S1 EP02, War: Ukraine and a History with Russia
[INTRODUCTION]
Sarah: This is Sarah Jones Breaks It Down.
I’m Sarah, and I’m here to help us better understand what’s happening in the world.
Why?
Because, as a journalist, that’s my job.
And this world isn’t just filled with adults…
Kid: Nope!
Sarah: It’s our world.
So, every week we’ll talk about the stories that you may overhear some adults talking about like war, or elections and we’ll…
Group of Kids: Break it down.
Sarah: And we’ll break it down.
[TOPLINE]
Sarah: Let's get into it. War.
So really war is what happens when countries or large groups of people fight.
The people involved in the war may say they're fighting because of religion or land or resources. But at the end of the day, it's really about power. And if you want to learn more about it, I encourage you to read or listen to the audiobook of A Kids Book About War.
At the time of recording this episode, there's currently a war happening in Ukraine. What's happening in Ukraine is also about power.But as with most current events, you need to know a little history about what happened in the past to better understand what's happening now, and also what may happen in the future.
Ukraine was once part of Russia, but in the early 1990s, Ukraine declared itself independent from Russia. The country of Ukraine and all of its leaders since it became independent in the 1990s, remained loyal to Russia because it always had a president that supported closer economic, military, and political ties with Russia over the rest of Europe.
But since Ukraine ousted its pro-Russia president in 2014, the country has been shifting alliances away from Russia and towards Europe, the north Atlantic trade organization, which is also called NATO and the European union, which is also called the EU and the U S. And the U S Europe NATO, and the EU have one Alliance and Russia, Iran, and China have another Alliance based on shared interests.
And Russia's President Putin, feels that a stronger Europe, US, NATO and EU are a threat to Russia.
[BREAKDOWN]
Sarah: Wow. That's a lot, but also that's just the quick take of what's happening. So let's break down what's happening in Ukraine
So that we can really understand the significance of this war and can better understand and foresee what might happen in the future. So we already talked a little bit about the history and how Ukraine used to be part of Russia. So let's break down why this is happening in 2022.
Why did Russia invade Ukraine in 2022?
Well, this war is really a continuation of military action between Russia and Ukraine, which began in 2014.That's when armed conflict began when Russia annexed a part of Ukraine called Crimea. Annexed is a big word. It basically means Russia took Crimea. And according to some Russians, it returned Crimea to Russia. This annexation wasn't just a result of Russia going into Crimea militarily.
There were also pro-Russian armed groups in Crimea that were fighting in the country. And then there was a vote called a referendum where Crimeans voted to become part of Russia. Once the major fighting stopped, countries in Europe were worried.
How far into Europe was Russia willing to go? And Europe turned to its partner, the US for help. The US sent brigades to countries bordering Russia and Ukraine to help protect them and prepare them against a Russian invasion. Russia considered this aggressive and held its largest military exercise since the fall of the Soviet in 2018. The Soviet is what Russia used to be called when it had a bunch of other countries also part of it.
In the 2000s NATO also expressed that it intended to add Georgia and Ukraine to its military alliance at some point in the future. Russia saw this as the US breaking its promise from the 1990s to not expand NATO membership eastward into countries that were once part of Russia when it was known as the Soviet.
But one could argue, the US was just protecting itself to respond against any military action against European countries, which were allies with NATO or Western Europe. And now that Russia has invaded Ukraine, that potential threat to NATO and Western Europe is more plausible, which means it's more likely that it could actually become a reality.
It's why you may have heard Finland and Sweden joining NATO. What will happen next militarily? We're not really sure. One thing is for sure, this, like any war, is impacting people. More than 14 million people have fled their homes because of the war. And tens of thousands of people have died, including Russian soldiers.
War is ugly. War is destructive. And it impacts people.
And you'll hear directly from some of the people who have been impacted by wars in upcoming episodes.
[UNDER-REPORTED]
Sarah: So now, you know, a little bit more about war in general and what's happening in Ukraine, but Ukraine is the only country current.
But Ukraine isn't the only country currently facing a war.
Group of Kids: Everyone matters.
Sarah: So let's talk about wars going on in the world that aren't getting as much attention as the war in Ukraine, but should be.
The term journalists use for this type of story is under reported and news can be underreported for a lot of different reasons. Like right now there's a war in Syria, Iraq, there are still Afghans who are fighting against the Afghan Taliban. There's war in Tigray which is in Ethiopia. There's still fighting happening in the democratic Republic of Congo, which is actually the deadliest war since World War II.
There are even more conflicts going on. And there are even more conflicts going on throughout the world, which are smaller fights.
In some of our upcoming episodes we'll speak to people who have escaped these wars and hear what living and fighting in war is like as well.
Hozan: It is very painful. When I see my country on our people have been largely ignored by the global media. People in seed are still being killed and they are still suffering the crisis in Syria hasn't ended. They should be always focused from the media on the victims of the war. The suffering of people living in war zones should be always unfairly covered.
[CLOSING]
Sarah: Thank you for listening and for breaking it down with me today.
You know, more than you did before we spent this time together and knowledge is power. And sometimes the more, you know, the more questions you have.
So if you have questions about war, what is happening in Ukraine or any of the under-reported wars we talked about, or if there's something else going on in the world that you want us to break down, write to us or record a message and email us at listen@akidsco.com.
Sarah Jones Breaks It Down is written and reported by me, Sarah Jones. You can learn more about me and my work at sarahjonesreports.com.
Our show is edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from Chad Michael Snavely and our team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are found and check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
Thank you for hanging out with me and stay curious!