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WHY PEOPLE COMMIT SUICIDE?

noreply@blogger.com (Twinstamedia) — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 14:40:00 +0000

WHY PEOPLE COMMIT SUICIDE?

Suicide is death caused by injuring oneself with the intent to die. A suicide attempt is when someone harms themselves with any intent to end their life, but they do not die as a result of their actions.

Many factors can increase the risk for suicide or protect against it. Suicide is connected to other forms of injury and violence. For example, people who have experienced violence, including child abuse, bullying, or sexual violence have a higher suicide risk. Being connected to family and community support and having easy access to health care can decrease suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Suicide rates increased 30% during the period of 2000–2018, and declined in 2019 and 2020. Suicide is a leading cause of death with over 45,979 deaths in the United States alone during 2020. This is about one death every 11 minutes. The number of people who think about or attempt suicide is even higher. In 2020, an estimated 12.2 million American adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.2 million planned a suicide attempt, and 1.2 million attempted suicide.

Suicide affects all ages. In 2020, suicide was among the top 9 leading causes of death for people ages 10-64. Suicide was the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 25-34.

CAUSES OF SUICIDE

· A personal history of suicide attempts

· A history of experiencing physical or sexual abuse

· Having a mental health disorder, such as depression or bipolar disorder

· Having a medical condition, such as chronic pain or terminal illness, that increases the risk of depression

· Alcohol and drug misuse or abuse

· Having suicidal thoughts and access to means of suicide, such as firearms or medication

· being gay, bisexual, or transgender and experiencing discrimination or not receiving support from others

· A family history of mental illness, suicide, or substance abuse

· The initial use of some antidepressant medications, especially among children and adolescents.

WARNING SIGNS

Warning signs of suicide or suicidal thoughts among males include:

· Extreme mood swings.

· Talking about suicide, death, or dying.

· An increased use of alcohol or drugs.

· Changes to a person’s eating or sleeping habits or other aspects of their usual routine.

· Changes in personality, such as severe anxiety or feelings of hopelessness.

· Isolating oneself from others.

· Engaging in risky behaviors.

· Acquiring a firearm or other means to die by suicide.

· Giving away money or belongings.

· Saying goodbye to people as if they will not see them again.

PREVENTION

Suicide is preventable. With immediate help and professional treatment, people can learn to deal with their thoughts and feelings and manage their symptoms. They can begin to find joy and build meaningful lives.

Individuals who are not at immediate risk of suicide but are having thoughts of taking their own life should talk to someone, such as a:

· Trusted friend or family member

· Doctor

· Therapist

· Mental health professional

· Minister or other spiritual leader

How to help others

If a loved one is at immediate risk of suicide or has attempted suicide, seek emergency help by phoning the police. Do not leave the person alone until help arrives.

Those who have a loved one who displays signs of suicidal thoughts or behaviors can help by:

· Asking the person if they are thinking about suicide.

· Listening to them without minimizing their concerns.

· Sharing their own concerns with the person.

· Encouraging and supporting them to seek professional help.

· Offering to accompany them to treatment.

· Trying to remove firearms and other means of suicide from their possession.

· Checking in with them regularly to see how they are.

Supporting someone at risk of suicide can be extremely draining. It is important that caregivers look after themselves too. They may need to seek support from loved ones, support organizations, and mental health professionals.

It is also important to practice good self-care, which involves eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, and spending time engaging in enjoyable activities.

Comparisons between Russian and Ukraine

MOG predicts when Russian-Ukraine War would end

noreply@blogger.com (Twinstamedia) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 09:57:00 +0000

Popular Man of God predicts when Russian-Ukraine War would End

A Nigeria-based popular man of God prophesies that the Russian-Ukraine conflict will end in the month of March. While ministering in a vigil service on 25th February, 2022, he revealed that netizens in Ukraine called him on the phone, beckoning on him to pray for their country.

He prayed for them and told them that God said that the conflict would end in the month of March. He further declared that the Russian president would reach a compromise or agreement with the president of Ukraine culminating in a ceasefire.

As we all known, all efforts by the president of Ukraine to reach an agreement with the Russian president have been proved abortive as the Russian president never responded to the clarion call for peace amidst pressures by the world powers.

However, the notable man of God who have carved a niche for himself due to his accurate predictions, prayed for the country Ukraine, affirming that the conflicts will cease. Rev. Nnamdi Akujor is a servant of God who worships at Overcomers Christian Mission Inc., with its headquarters located at Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

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To know more about Ukraine-Russian Conflict, click here

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Comparisons between Russian & Ukraine

Updates on Russia-Ukraine War

Comparisons Between Russian and Ukraine

noreply@blogger.com (Twinstamedia) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 09:47:00 +0000

	Russia	Ukraine
Flag
Coat of Arms
Population	146,171,015 (including Crimea) ^[7]	41,319,838 (excluding Crimea) ^[8]
Area	17,125,191 km² (6,612,073 sq mi) ^[9]	603,550 km² (233,030 sq mi)^[10]
Population density	8/km² (21/sq mi)	73.8/km² (191/sq mi)
Time zones	9	1
Exclusive economic zone	8,095,881 km² (3,125,837 sq mi)	147,318 km² (56,880 sq mi)
Capital	Moscow	Kyiv
Largest city	Moscow (pop. 12,197,596; 20,004,462 Metro)	Kyiv (pop. 2,900,920; 3,375,000 Metro)
Government	Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic	Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
Official language	Russian	Ukrainian
Main religions	71% Orthodox^[11] 15% non-religious 10% Islam 2% other Christian <1% Catholic 1% other religion	34% Orthodox Church of Ukraine^[12] 27.6% Orthodox unaffiliated 13.8% Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) 8.2% Ukrainian Greek Catholic 0.7% Protestant and Evangelical 0.4% Roman Catholic 0.6% other 8.8% non-denominational 5.6% non-Religious
Ethnic group	80.90% Russians 8.75% Turkic peoples 3.96% other Indo-European-speakers (2.03% Ukrainians) 3.78% Caucasians 1.76% Finnic and Mongolian peoples and others	77.8% Ukrainians 17.3% Russians 4.9% others/unspecified
GDP (nominal) by the IMF	$1,576 billion^[13]	$126 billion^[13]
GDP (PPP) by the IMF	$4,328 billion^[14]	$576 billion^[14]
GDP (nominal) per capita by the IMF	$11,273 (2021)	$4,384(2021)
GDP (PPP) per capita by the IMF	$29,495 (2021)	$13,943 (2021)
Military strength	Russian Armed Forces (2020) 900,000^[15]^{: 190–205, 212} Army 280,000 Navy 150,000 Air Force 165,000 Strategic Rocket Forces 50,000 Airborne 45,000 Special Operations Forces 1,000 Railway Forces 29,000 Command and Support 180,000 Paramilitary 554,000 Border Guard 160,000 (estimated) Federal Guard 40,000–50,000 (estimated) FSB Special Purpose Centre 4,000 (estimated) National Guard 340,000 (estimated) Reserve 2,000,000 Of the above, 28,000 are in Crimea, internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, and 3,000 reported in eastern Ukraine.^[15]^: 212 Eastern Ukraine separatist forces^[15]^: 212 Donetsk People's Republic 20,000 (estimated) Luhansk People's Republic 14,000 (estimated)	Ukrainian Armed Forces (2020) 209,000^[15]^{: 208–212} Army 145,000 Navy 11,000 Air Force 45,000 Airborne 8,000 Special Operations Forces (not known) Paramilitary 102,000 National Guard 60,000 (estimated) Border Guard 42,000 (estimated) Reserve 900,000
Current President	Vladimir Putin	Volodymyr Zelensky
Current Prime Minister	Mikhail Mishustin	Denys Shmyhal
Nuclear warheads active/total	1,600 / 6,850 (2019)	0 / 0 (2019)

To know more about Russian-Ukraine conflict, click here

References:

Wikipedia

Update on Russian-Ukraine War

noreply@blogger.com (Twinstamedia) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 09:44:00 +0000

Update on Russian-Ukraine War

Follow up on Russian-Ukraine War, click here

Overview

After months of posturing while simultaneously denying any plans to attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assaults on multiple cities in Ukraine began overnight on Feb. 24 and have continued day and night since then. A 40-mile convoy is stalled on the highway between Belarus and Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv.

A senior U.S. official says, “the Russian advance on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities has stalled amid food and fuel shortages, Ukrainian resistance and slower-than-expected troop movements toward the capital.”

Putin stated that Russian forces were targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure, not people or communities. However, images and stories from Ukraine paint a different picture, including numerous civilian casualties and injuries.

This latest attack is part of a multi-year crisis stemming back to 2014 and beyond.

CNBC reported: “Heightened fears of a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine have been present for some time, and eastern Ukraine has been the location of a proxy war between the two countries. Soon after Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, pro-Russian separatists proclaimed two republics in the eastern part of the country: the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic — much to the Ukrainian government’s consternation. Since then, there have been ongoing skirmishes and fighting in the region, which is known as the Donbas, between Ukraine’s troops and separatists.”

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s (CDP) response to this crisis is focused on humanitarian needs that arise, particularly among internally-displaced peoples (IDPs) and refugees. We are not looking at the conflict itself except in how it affects population movement and humanitarian needs.

According to World Population Review, Ukraine’s current population is 43.3 million people. It states, “Since the 1990s, Ukraine’s population has been declining due to high emigration rates, low birth rates, and high death rates … Many people leave the country because Ukraine is the second-poorest in Europe, is in conflict with Russia to its east, and is beset by corruption. The population is currently declining at a rate of 0.59%, a rate has increased every year since 2015. The United Nations estimates that Ukraine could lose nearly one-fifth of its population by 2050.”

Already people are fleeing the country or leaving areas that have been bombed or at risk of further conflict. On March 1, Kelly Clements, Deputy High Commissioner of the UN Refugee Agency tweeted, “677,000 people have fled #Ukraine to neighboring countries in less than a week. 150,000 in the last 24 hrs.” This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced within the country.

Of the 575,400 who had left by Feb. 28, the vast majority (nearly 340,000) have gone to Poland. Other refugees went to several countries, including: Slovakia (30,000), Hungary (94,000), Romania (34,000), Moldova (40,000) and Russia (129,000). The remainder (34,000) have gone elsewhere in Europe.

Source: New York Times

Impact

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), which is coordinating humanitarian response efforts in Ukraine and deploying additional surge support through Poland, it will take a few days for the full needs to be known. However, UN OCHA issued a summary of humanitarian needs on Feb. 17, which indicated that while 2.9 people were in need, the humanitarian community’s call for support was focused on the 1.8 million people most directly affected by conflict. In eastern Ukraine, seven years of conflict have left shelter, health, protection and water, sanitation and hygiene and other basic needs in an acute emergency phase.

UN OCHA adds: “The effects of COVID-19 continue to create additional pressure on the struggling civilian population and ageing infrastructure – on top of the ongoing hostilities and protracted humanitarian crisis. As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, conflict-weary people have been dealing with severe obstacles to freedom of movement for almost two years. They have been unable to travel more freely across the 427-kilometre-long [265 miles] “contact line” that splits eastern Ukraine into Government- and non-Government-controlled areas (GCA and NGCA), as only two of the five official entry-exit crossing points (EECPs) have been partially operational since March 2020. The majority of current crossing restrictions are applied by the NGCA side. As a result of the partial closure of the “contact line”, in 2021, there has been a 95 per cent reduction in the number of crossings observed compared with the year before the pandemic: from a monthly average of 1.15 million crossings recorded in 2019 (pre-COVID-19) to 59,000 in 2021. Restrictions on movement have left hundreds of thousands of people, particularly the elderly living in NGCA, with limited access to social benefits and entitlements, essential services, as well as have torn them apart from their families and friends. As a consequence of their increased isolation and the abrupt loss of access to services and livelihoods, the severity of needs of those already vulnerable people has increased.”

Critical and Ongoing Needs

Given the current, ongoing and significant escalation and expansion of the conflict, the full set of needs are yet not known. However, the UN has issued a $1.7 billion flash appeal to support humanitarian needs in receiving countries and across Ukraine.

“The UN estimates that 12 million people inside Ukraine will need relief and protection, while more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees may need protection and assistance in neighbouring countries in the coming months … The Flash Appeal asks for $1.1 billion to assist 6 million people inside Ukraine for an initial three months. The programme includes multipurpose cash assistance for the most vulnerable people, food assistance, water and sanitation, support to health care and education services, and shelter assistance to rebuild damaged homes. The plan also aims to deliver support to authorities to maintain and establish transit and reception centres for displaced people and prevent gender-based violence.

Aid groups will need safe and unimpeded access to all conflict-affected areas according to the core humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. With more than half a million refugees having fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in the past five days alone, and many more expected, support is also required to meet the critical needs of those seeking protection outside the country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said: ‘We are looking at what could become Europe’s largest refugee crisis this century. While we have seen tremendous solidarity and hospitality from neighbouring countries in receiving refugees, including from local communities and private citizens, much more support will be needed to assist and protect new arrivals.’

An inter-agency Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for the Ukraine situation asks for a preliminary $550.6 million to help refugees in Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, as well as in other countries in the region in order to help host countries provide shelter, emergency relief items, cash assistance, and mental health and psychosocial support to those who fled Ukraine, including people with specific needs, such as unaccompanied children.”

The 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine launched on Nov. 30, 2021, was already looking for $190 million to protect the most at-risk populations and for the provision of humanitarian aid.

The existing Plan, drafted before the current escalation in the conflict, has three strategic objectives:

“Provide emergency and time-critical assistance and ensure access to basic essential services for 1.8 million people affected by the conflict.
Respond to the protection needs and strengthen protection of 1.4 million conflict-affected people, including IDPs.
Ensure implementation of an international humanitarian exit strategy in GCA from 2021 to 2023.”

The Humanitarian Needs Overview from February 2022 indicates that:

252,000 people have educational needs.
1.1 million people have food security and livelihoods issues.
1.5 million need health supports.
2.5 million people require protection.
158,000 require support for shelter and non-food items.
2.5 million people have ongoing water, sanitation and hygiene concerns.

The scale and urgency of needs will continue to increase. We do know that any family forced from their home needs help with shelter, food, clean water – the absolute basics.

It is also winter in Ukraine, with temperatures regularly below zero. Many families living in the conflict zone already don’t have enough food to eat or clothes to keep warm. With the current escalation, even more will be exposed to the elements and forced to find shelters.

Source: Ukraine Humanitarian Needs Overview Feb. 2022

How To Help

The CDP Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Recovery Fund focuses on addressing humanitarian needs that arise, particularly among the most vulnerable, marginalized and at-risk internally-displaced peoples and refugees. CDP is also in contact with and can grant to Ukrainian and other international organizations that are not 501(c)3 entities.

As with most disasters, cash donations are recommended by disaster experts as they allow for on-the-ground agencies to direct funds to the greatest area of need, support economic recovery and ensure donation management does not detract from disaster recovery needs.

CDP has also created a list of suggestions for foundations to consider related to disaster giving. These include:

Understand that recovery is possible in protracted and complex crisis settings: Even while focusing on immediate needs, remember that there are early and long-term recovery needs too. We know that people who have been affected by shocks in complex humanitarian contexts can recover and improve their situation without waiting until the crisis is over, which may take years. Recovery is possible and funding will be needed for recovery efforts alongside humanitarian funding. Recovery will take a long time and funding will be needed throughout.
Recognize there are places and ways that private philanthropy can help that other donors may not: Private funders can support nimble and innovative solutions that leverage or augment the larger humanitarian system response, either filling gaps or modeling change that, once tested and proven, can be taken to scale within the broader humanitarian response structure. Philanthropy can also provide sustainable funding to national and local organizations that support operational costs evolution, independence and other efforts on behalf of affected people.
All funders are disaster philanthropists: Even if your organization does not work in a particular geographic area or fund immediate relief efforts, you can look for ways to tie disaster funding into your existing mission. If you focus on education, health, children or marginalized populations, disasters present prime opportunities for funding.
Ask the experts: If you are considering supporting an organization that is positioned to work in an affected area, do some research. CDP and InterAction can provide resources and guidance about organizations working in affected communities.

Contact

CDP has developed a list of organizations responding to the crisis. If you are a responding NGO please send updates on how you are working in this crisis to tanya.gulliver-garcia@disasterphilanthropy.org. Responding donors are also encouraged to contact Tanya to share how they are innovatively assisting people in Ukraine and receiving communities.

If you are a donor looking for recommendations on how to help in this crisis, please email regine.webster@disasterphilanthropy.org for information about our list.

Russia’s army claims Kherson captured

President Zelenskyy says Moscow aims to ‘erase’ Ukraine as Russia’s military claims to have captured key southern city.

Russia claims its forces have captured Kherson, in Ukraine’s south.
Local authorities deny Kherson has fallen, but say Russian troops have encircled the city.
Deaths mount as Russian strikes pound several cities including the capital, Kyiv, and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
US President Joe Biden says Washington will ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin pays “a heavy price” for the invasion.
Miles-long Russian military convoy continues its advance on Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Moscow is aiming to “erase” Ukraine.

Mariupol under heavy shelling, mayor says

Ukraine’s key southeastern port city of Mariupol is under constant shelling from Russian forces, its mayor says.

“We are fighting, we are not ceasing to defend our motherland,” Vadym Boichenko said live on Ukrainian TV.

The intensity of the attacks meant it was proving impossible to evacuate those who had been wounded, he added.

Russia aims to ‘erase us’, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says

Zelenskyy has claimed that nearly 6,000 Russians have been killed during the first six days of Moscow’s invasion and warned the Kremlin it will not be able to take control of Ukraine with bombs and air raids.

In a video address, the Ukrainian president said a Russian missile strike in the capital on Tuesday which hit a Holocaust memorial complex “proves that for many people in Russia our Kyiv is absolutely foreign”.

“They don’t know a thing about Kyiv, about our history. But they all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all,” he added.

Russia has not publically declared how many of its troops have been killed and Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the figures provided by Zelenskky.

References:

Center for disaster philanthropy

Aljazeera

Ukraine-Russian War

noreply@blogger.com (Twinstamedia) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 09:28:00 +0000

Conflict in Ukraine

The armed conflict in Ukraine first erupted in early 2014 and quickly transitioned to a long stalemate, with regular shelling and skirmishes occurring along the front line that separates Russian- and Ukrainian-controlled border regions in the east. Since Russia launched a full-scale military invasion into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, fighting has caused over one hundred civilian casualties and pushed tens of thousands of Ukrainians to flee to neighboring countries—including Poland, a NATO country where U.S. troops are preparing to offer assistance.

In October 2021, Russia began moving troops and military equipment near its border with Ukraine, reigniting concerns over a potential invasion. Commercial satellite imagery, social media posts, and publicly released intelligence from November and December 2021 showed armor, missiles, and other heavy weaponry moving toward Ukraine with no official explanation. By December, more than one hundred thousand Russian troops were in place near the Russia-Ukraine border and U.S. intelligence officials warned that Russia may be planning an invasion for early 2022.In mid-December 2021, Russia’s foreign ministry issued a set of demands calling for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to cease any military activity in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, to commit against further NATO expansion toward Russia, and to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO in the future. The United States and other NATO allies rejected these demands and warned Russia they would impose severe economic sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine. The United States sent additional military assistance to Ukraine, including ammunition, small arms, and other defensive weaponry.

In early February 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered around three thousand U.S. troops to deploy to Poland and Romania—NATO countries that border Ukraine—to counter Russian troops stationed near its border with Ukraine and reassure NATO allies. Satellite imagery showed the largest deployment of Russian troops to its border with Belarus since the end of the Cold War. Negotiations between the United States, Russia, and European powers—including France and Germany—did not result in a resolution. While Russia released a statement claiming to draw down a certain number of troops, reports emerged of an increasing Russian troop presence at the border with Ukraine.

In late February 2022, the United States warned that Russia intended to invade Ukraine, citing Russia’s growing military presence at the Russia-Ukraine border. Russian President Vladimir Putin then ordered troops to Luhansk and Donetsk, separatist regions in Eastern Ukraine partly controlled by Russian-backed separatists, claiming the troops served a “peacekeeping” function. The United States responded by imposing sanctions on the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline a few days later. On February 24, during a United Nations Security Council meeting to dissuade Russia from attacking Ukraine, Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale land, sea, and air invasion of Ukraine targeting Ukrainian military assets and cities across the country. Biden declared this attack “unprovoked and unjustified” and has since issued severe sanctions in coordination with European allies targeting four of Russia’s largest banks, its oil and gas industry, and U.S. technology exports to the country. The United Nations, G7, EU, and other countries continue to condemn Russian actions and vow to respond.

Background

The crisis in Ukraine began with protests in the capital city of Kyiv in November 2013 against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to reject a deal for greater economic integration with the European Union. After a violent crackdown by state security forces unintentionally drew an even greater number of protesters and escalated the conflict, President Yanukovych fled the country in February 2014.

In March 2014, Russian troops took control of Ukraine’s Crimean region, before formally annexing the peninsula after Crimeans voted to join the Russian Federation in a disputed local referendum. Russian President Vladimir Putin cited the need to protect the rights of Russian citizens and Russian speakers in Crimea and southeast Ukraine. The crisis heightened ethnic divisions, and two months later pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine held a referendum to declare independence from Ukraine.

Violence in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian military has by conservative estimates killed more than 10,300 people and injured nearly 24,000 since April 2014. Although Moscow has denied its involvement, Ukraine and NATO have reported the buildup of Russian troops and military equipment near Donetsk and Russian cross-border shelling.

In July 2014, the situation in Ukraine escalated into an international crisis and put the United States and the European Union (EU) at odds with Russia when a Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down over Ukrainian airspace, killing all 298 onboard. Dutch air accident investigators concluded in October 2015 that the plane had been downed by a Russian-built surface-to-air missile. In September 2016, investigators said that the missile system was provided by Russia, determining it was moved into eastern Ukraine and then back to Russian territory following the downing of the airplane.

Since February 2015, France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine have attempted to broker a cessation in violence through the Minsk Accords. The agreement includes provisions for a cease-fire, withdrawal of heavy weaponry, and full Ukrainian government control throughout the conflict zone. However, efforts to reach a diplomatic settlement and satisfactory resolution have been unsuccessful.

In April 2016, NATO announced that the alliance would deploy four battalions to Eastern Europe, rotating troops through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to deter possible future Russian aggression elsewhere in Europe, particularly in the Baltics. These battalions were joined by two U.S. Army tank brigades, deployed to Poland in September 2017 to further bolster the alliance’s deterrence presence.

Ukraine has been the target of a number of cyberattacks since the conflict started in 2014. In December 2015, more than 225,000 people lost power across Ukraine in an attack, and in December 2016 parts of Kyiv experienced another power blackout following a similar attack targeting a Ukrainian utility company. In June 2017, government and business computer systems in Ukraine were hit by the NotPetya cyberattack; the crippling attack, attributed to Russia, spread to computer systems worldwide and caused billions of dollars in damages.

Security assistance to Ukraine increased further during the Donald Trump administration, alongside continued pressure on Russia over its involvement in eastern Ukraine. In January 2018, the United States imposed new sanctions on twenty-one individuals, including a number of Russian officials, and nine companies linked to the conflict. In March 2018, the State Department approved the sale of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, the first sale of lethal weaponry since the conflict began. In October 2018, Ukraine joined the United States and seven other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries in a series of large-scale air exercises in western Ukraine. The exercises came after Russia held its annual military exercises in September 2018, the largest since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Concerns

The current conflict has severely strained U.S.-Russia relations and increased the risk of a wider European conflict. Tensions are likely to increase between Russia and neighboring NATO member countries that would likely involve the United States, due to alliance security commitments. Additionally, the conflict in Ukraine will have broader ramifications, specifically for U.S.-China relations, and for future cooperation on critical issues like arms control, cybersecurity, nuclear nonproliferation, energy security, counter-terrorism, and political solutions in Syria, Libya, and elsewhere.

References:

Global Conflict Tracker

Twinstamedia

noreply@blogger.com (Twinstamedia) — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 13:23:00 +0000

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