Historical background to the Russian- Ukrainian conflict and the Danvas war -- The last episode

The formation of a separate Ukrainian nation was largely completed on the eve of World War II, but the territory of present-day Ukraine was then divided into four parts - 'Soviet Ukraine' comprising the Soviet Union, 'Western Ukraine' under Poland (northern Ukraine (Galitsia and Volinin) and Romania 'Jakarpattiya' under control. In Soviet Ukraine, the Soviet Communists were trying to create a "Sovietized" Ukrainian nation, and that effort was largely successful, but the famine of 1930–33 and the purge of 1936–36 enraged a section of the Ukrainian people against the Soviet government. Attempts were made in Polish and Romanian Ukraine to forcibly assimilate Ukrainians, but these led to the spread of fierce Ukrainian nationalism in the region. Czechoslovak Ukraine gained autonomy and independence on the eve of World War II, but soon fell under Hungarian occupation.

Beginning of World War II: Polish partition of Ukraine and German-EU alliance

On September 1, 1939, Slovakia invaded Poland and Germany and its allies, and World War II began. One week before the start of the war, a non-aggression pact was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, and under the secret terms of this treaty, the Germans and the Soviets determined their sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. On September 17, Soviet troops entered Poland. Neither Poland nor the Soviet Union declared war on each other, and Soviet troops quickly took control of parts of eastern Poland. Within that region was the lion's share of Galicia and the western part of Volin, the lion's share of Polish Ukraine. The remnants of Galitsia and Volin went under German rule.

Polish nationalists and anti-Soviets have termed the Soviet occupation of large parts of Galicia and the West Wallin rights as an 'invasion of Poland by the Soviet Union'. On the other hand, from the Soviet point of view, it was an "operation" to protect the "fraternal" Ukrainians and Belarusians living in eastern Poland from German aggression. In October 1939, elections were held in that territory in accordance with the "People's Assembly of Western Ukraine" (Russian: Народное Собрание Западной Украины, "Narodnoye Sobranie Japadnoye Ukraine"; The territory belongs to Soviet Ukraine.

It should be noted that the lion's share of the territory was annexed by Poland from Soviet Ukraine during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–21. That is why the lion's share of the population in both the Soviet Union and the former Polish Ukraine welcomed the amalgamation. Moreover, in June 1940, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Romania and pressured it to hand over the territories of Besarabia and North Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Romania succumbed to Soviet pressure and ceded the two territories to the Soviet Union. Ukrainian-inhabited northern Bukovina and parts of Besarabia are annexed by Soviet Ukraine.

Boundaries of German and Soviet spheres of influence in Eastern Europe according to the German-Soviet Non-Alignment Treaty on the map; Source: Peter Hanula / Wikimedia Commons

On the other hand, in the part of Galicia and Volin that became part of Germany, the Germans granted the Ukrainians limited linguistic and cultural rights, but banned all Ukrainian political organizations other than the extremist nationalist and racist group OUN. The OUN had been secretly collaborating with Germany since before World War II, and after the invasion of Poland by Germany, they assisted the invading German troops. But internal divisions within the party escalated and in 1940 the OUN split into two. Of these, Andrei Melnik-led UUN-M was relatively less extremist, but Stepan Bandera-led UUN-B was the most extremist. However, both parties were cooperating with the Germans.

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German-Soviet War: German Occupation of Soviet Ukraine and Unification of Ukrainian Territories

On June 22, 1941, Germany and the German-controlled and allied states (Italy, Romania, Hungary, Finland, Slovakia, and Croatia) launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union, with two branches of the OUN supporting Germany. In the early stages of the war, the Soviet Union collapsed, and by November 1941, the whole of Soviet Ukraine was under German occupation. The Soviet Ukrainian government took refuge in the territory of Soviet Russia. Some extremist Ukrainian nationalists in the two branches of the OUN and in Soviet Ukraine, especially in the former Galicia, thought that since Germany was an enemy of both the Soviet Union and Poland, they would be allies of the Ukrainians and with their help the Ukrainians would establish an independent state.

But soon their ideas proved to be wrong. Germany's extremist racist and extremist nationalist government regarded all Slavic nations, including the Ukrainians, as inferior to the Germans. Their plan for Ukraine was: they would turn Ukraine into a German agricultural colony, wipe out the lion's share of the Ukrainian population, and enslave the remnants of the Ukrainian population to the Germans. After the occupation of Ukraine, the Germans annexed Galicia to German-occupied Poland, ceded part of Ukraine, including northern Bukovina, to Romania, and transformed the rest of Ukraine into a German province. The German occupation killed at least 5.2 million people in Ukraine, and the Germans sent at least 2.2 million young people from Ukraine to Germany as "slave laborers."

In the immediate aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Germany, OUN-B announced the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state in the city of Lvov, but the Germans soon thwarted this effort and arrested the OUN-B leaders. However, the UNN-MR continues to co-operate with the Germans, and assists the Germans in conducting German administration and policing in Ukraine (and in the case of genocide). In addition, after Germany's efforts to establish an independent Ukrainian state were thwarted by Germany, the UN-B fought a short-lived guerrilla war against the Germans for some time, but later resumed cooperating with Germany. In addition, they fought against Soviet guerrillas fighting the Axis Powers in Ukraine, and killed thousands of Polish, Jewish, Russian and dissident Ukrainians. Overall, at least 300,000 Ukrainians fought directly for Germany during World War II.

On the other hand, during World War II, about 6 million Ukrainians participated in the war on behalf of the Soviet Armed Forces and Soviet guerrilla groups. In 1944, the Soviet Union recaptured Ukraine from the Axis Powers. Northern Bukovina was re-incorporated into Soviet Ukraine, and almost the whole of Galitsia and Volin was annexed by Soviet Ukraine. Moreover, the Soviet Union annexed Jakartapatia from Hungary and annexed it to Soviet Ukraine. The Allies, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia recognized the expansion of Soviet Ukraine through various treaties and agreements signed at the end of World War II and at the end of World War II. After all, after the founding of the United Nations in 1945, the Soviet Union, along with the Soviet Union, became a member of the United Nations.

Overall, World War II was a very scary experience for Ukraine and the Ukrainians. But by the end of World War II, the old dream of the Ukrainian nationalists came true - all Ukrainian-inhabited territories were united under a single state structure. Through this, almost 6 centuries after the fall of Kievskaya Russia, all the territories of Kievskaya Russia were reunited. However, the unification of Ukrainian territory was not accomplished by Ukrainian nationalists. In fact, Ukrainian nationalists have not been able to reach that goal. This goal was achieved under the communist government of the Soviet Union, and naturally the Ukrainian nationalists were not satisfied with it.

Western Ukraine Uprising: The 'almost unknown' proxy war of the Cold War

Towards the end of World War II, the UUN-B formed an armed group called the UPA or "Ukrainian Rebel Army" (Ukrainian: повстанська повстанська армія, "Ukraineinsk Povstanska Armia") By The group had at least a few million members and was supported by intelligence agencies from the United States, Britain, then West Germany, and Italy in the aftermath of the Cold War. The scale of the uprising subsided by the end of the 1940s, but sporadic clashes between the Soviet Union and the UPA continued until 1958. The UPA killed 8,000 to 25,000 Soviet troops and at least 30,000 civilians in the war. On the other hand, about 155,000 UPA members were killed by Soviet troops and 130,000 to 200,000 UPA members / supporters were arrested.

In fact, the so-called "Western Ukraine Uprising" was a bloody war and one of the first proxy wars of the Cold War. But for whatever reason, this bloody war remains one of the 'almost unknown' chapters of history. The Western world kept their role in the war strictly confidential, and before 2016, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did not acknowledge their role in the war.

Post-World War II Soviet Ukraine: Expansion, Nationalism and Independence

In 1954, the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Assembly was celebrated in the Soviet Union. At the Pereyaslav meeting in 1854, the Cossacks of the Ukrainian territory, which included Poland-Lithuania, prayed for Russia's protection, and the Soviet government celebrated the event as a sign of "permanent" unity between the Russian and Ukrainian nations. In the same year, the Soviet Union transferred the Crimean peninsula from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine for various reasons. At the time, the majority of Crimea's inhabitants were ethnic Russians, but since Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine were part of the same state, the decision did not provoke a significant reaction.

Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Soviet Ukraine's influence within the Soviet Union continued to grow. During this time, the level of participation of Ukrainian communists in the Soviet central government increased many times over, and the level of autonomy of Soviet Ukraine gradually increased. Soviet Ukraine became a highly industrialized, electrified, technologically advanced and economically prosperous republic of the Soviet Union. In fact, Soviet Ukraine was the most influential and powerful republic within the Soviet Union after Soviet Russia.

Since World War II, Ukrainian extremist nationalist groups have sought refuge in the Western world. There they received extensive support from Western intelligence agencies. The purpose of the Western world was to use these organizations to create separatism in Soviet Ukraine. At the same time, the level of political independence in the Soviet Union and in Soviet Ukraine has been steadily rising since the 1930s and 1940s, and this has allowed anti-communist and nationalist thinking to flourish within Soviet Ukraine. Western intelligence agencies and Ukrainian extremist nationalist organizations in the Western world play a key role.

The borders of Soviet Ukraine (marked in red) on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union; Source: Milenioscuro / Wikimedia Commons

The Soviet economy stagnated in the 1960s, and the level of problems in the Soviet economy continued to rise throughout the 1980s. In response, Mikhail Gorbachev, secretary general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, launched a political and economic reform program throughout the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s. But that economic reform program failed to improve the Soviet economy, and this led to a growing level of anti-communist discontent throughout the Soviet Union. Moreover, Gorbachev's political reforms abolished all restrictions on freedom of expression in the Soviet Union, but extremist nationalists and separatists throughout the Soviet Union took full advantage of this opportunity for political freedom.

Extremist nationalists also became increasingly powerful in Soviet Ukraine, and Ukrainian extremist nationalists stationed abroad began to influence the political developments in Soviet Ukraine. In addition, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Soviet Ukraine in 1968 provoked strong reactions from the Ukrainian public against the Soviet Union. In March 1990, the first free multi-party legislative elections were held in Soviet Ukraine. The election was won by the Ukrainian Communists, but they were dominated by reformists, and on July 16, 1990, the Soviet-Ukrainian legislature declared Ukraine's sovereignty.

In fact, by 1990, it was clear that the Soviet Union would collapse. To avoid this, Gorbachev planned to transform the Soviet Union into a new federation, and in March 1991 a referendum was held in nine republics of the Soviet Union (including Soviet Ukraine). In this referendum, about 71% of the people of Soviet Ukraine voted in favor of transforming the Soviet Union into a new federation.

But on August 19-21, 1991, a radical section of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union staged a coup and tried to oust Gorbachev. The attempt failed, but in the process Gorbachev lost real power and the original power passed to Boris Yeltsin, the president of Soviet Russia and Gorbachev's bitter political rival. Yeltsin was in favor of the abolition of the Soviet Union, so the results of the referendum held by Gorbachev were in favor of keeping the Soviet Union afloat, but the plan was never implemented.

On December 6, 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, and Belarusian President Stanislav Shushkevich signed the CIS Agreement;
Source: Yu. Ivanov / Wikimedia Commons

In this context, on August 24, 1991, the Soviet Union declared Ukraine's independence, and the present state of Ukraine was born. On December 1, 1991, a referendum was held on Ukraine's independence, and at the same time, Ukraine's presidential election was held. All of the presidential candidates campaigned for Ukraine's independence, and in a referendum about 92% of the Ukrainian people voted for independence. Acting President of Ukraine and President of the Ukrainian Legislative Assembly Leonid Kravchuk was elected the first President of Ukraine. On December 6, 1991, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the CIS Agreement and decided to abolish the Soviet Union. On December 25, the Soviet Union officially dissolved.

Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s: The Beginning of the Conflict

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and Russia and Ukraine became two separate independent states. As a result, the problems that were dormant under the Soviet Union came to the center of Russian-Ukrainian relations with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

First, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, about 11 million inhabitants of Ukraine (about 22% of Ukraine's population) were ethnic Russians, and overnight after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they discovered themselves in a different state. In addition, a significant portion of ethnic Ukrainians living in Ukraine are pro-Russian, and a large portion of them are Russian-speaking. In fact, at least one-third of Ukraine's population is Russian-speaking. But since the independence of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government has not given Russian the status of a state language, and a significant portion of ethnic Russians and Russians living in Ukraine consider it an ethnic, linguistic and cultural discrimination against them.

Second, the Soviet Central Government annexed the Novorossiysk region (present-day Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Mikolaev, Odessa, and Kharkiv regions of present-day Ukraine) in the 1920s, and Crimea in the 1950s. A significant portion of the population of the Novorossiysk region is ethnic Russian and the lion's share is Russian-speaking. The majority of the Crimean population is ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking. In this context, Russian nationalists view the annexation of Novorosia and Crimea by the Soviet central government to Ukraine as a "surrender of ethnic Russian land" to Ukraine. The problem was not so serious under the Soviet Union, as Russia and Ukraine were part of the same state at the time.

But after Ukraine became independent, Russian nationalists in Russia and Ukraine were outraged by the Ukrainian government's adoption of nationalist policies and discrimination against ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers. In fact, in the 1990s, pro-Russian forces in Crimea and Novorosia sought to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, but their efforts were not successful due to the inaction of the Russian government.

Regional use of Russian in Ukraine;
Source: Russianname / Wikimedia Commons

Third, a dispute arose between Russia and Ukraine over the location of Russian naval bases in Crimea and the ownership of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine was claiming a full part of the fleet, and there was a possibility that Russian naval bases in Crimea could be closed. In that case, Russia's strategic position in the Black Sea would be severely weakened, and Russia's access to the Mediterranean would be severely limited.

Fourth, a large portion of the former Soviet Armed Forces' nuclear arsenal was stationed on Ukrainian soil, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became virtually the world's third-largest nuclear power after the United States and Russia. But after the Chernobyl disaster, there was a strong anti-nuclear sentiment among the Ukrainian people, and in this context, the Ukrainian government decided to hand over the stockpile to Russia. But after handing over almost half of its nuclear weapons to Russia, the Ukrainian government abruptly suspended the handover process. The issue has caused tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

After all, shortly after independence, Ukraine declared itself a "European" state and renounced its "Eurasian" identity. Ukraine began pursuing a pro-Western foreign policy, joining the US-led military alliance NATO and refusing to join the Russian-influenced CIS alliance. Russia and Ukraine had different views on CIS. Russia favored the formation of a joint armed forces of the CIS, the establishment of a joint citizenship system, and the creation of a joint border defense force, but Ukraine rejected the offer and refused to join the CIS.

Conflict between Russia and Ukraine became almost inevitable, but both avoided the conflict because of the situation. At the time, Russia was in the throes of a severe political crisis, economic crisis, social decay, and internal anarchy, and was keen to maintain good relations with the Western world and to receive extensive economic assistance from them. At the same time, the Western powers, especially the United States, were able to exert a great deal of influence on Russia, and the dynamics of Russian foreign policy were largely manipulated. Ukraine, on the other hand, was in deep political, economic and social turmoil at the time and had no interest in a direct confrontation with Russia.

In this situation, Russia generally ignores the situation of ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers living in Ukraine and refrains from trying to annex Crimea and Novorosia to Russia. Under pressure from the United States, Ukraine was forced to destroy its remaining nuclear weapons. In 1997, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement on the division of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet. According to the agreement, most of the fleet was acquired by Russia, in return for which Russia waived part of Ukraine's foreign debt. In addition, Ukraine leased a Russian naval base in Crimea to Russia for 20 years, and a "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership" was signed between Russia and Ukraine. Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine's second president-elect in 1994, sought to strike a fine balance between NATO and Russia. Ukraine joined NATO's Partnership for Peace program in 1994 and the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in 1999.

Abandoned silo of the Soviet-built RT-23 Molodets intercontinental ballistic missile in central Ukraine; Source: Michael / Wikimedia Commons

Throughout the 1990s, the two processes continued in parallel in Ukraine and Russia. Since independence, Ukraine has faced a major economic crisis and has become dependent on economic cooperation between the United States and the West. The United States and the Western world use this opportunity to expand their influence inside Ukraine. In order for Ukraine to never return to communism and Russia, the Western world and its Ukrainian supporters continue to accelerate the spread of Ukrainian nationalism.

Moreover, the rapid privatization of Soviet-era state-owned enterprises created a new oligarchs in Ukraine, whose personal economic interests depended directly on maintaining good relations with the Western world and became the main 'representatives' of Western influence in Ukraine. These few oligarchs became de facto controllers of Ukraine's power, as they gained control of the majority of Ukraine's media, political parties and other institutions through their vast resources.

At the same time, there was a rise of pro-Western elites in Russia, but there was a difference between the Western policy pursued in Ukraine and the Western policy pursued in Russia. In fact, pro-Western Russian liberals used the term "nationalist" or "patriotic" in the 1990's to denigrate it. But the pro-Western elite rule in Russia, like in Ukraine, did not last long, as in 1999 a new class suddenly emerged in Russia and Russia's history took a new turn.

On the whole, the Polish and Lithuanian efforts to separate the Russians living in present-day Ukrainian territory from the original Russian nation, and the efforts made by the Austro-Hungarians in the nineteenth century to accelerate the Soviet Communists, By then the Ukrainian nation had emerged as a covert rival to the Russian nation. There was no shortage of reasons for the conflict between the two nations - Crimea, the Black Sea Fleet, the Russian-speaking position in Ukraine, the Ukrainian government's treatment of ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers, Novorosia, the price of natural gas - these were the reasons for direct conflict between Russia and Ukraine. . Against this historical background, the bitter conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in the second decade of the twenty-first century, and the ongoing war in Denmark is only a practical reflection of this conflict.

This is the last part of a Bengali article that provides a brief account of the historical background of the current Russo–Ukrainian conflict and the ongoing War in Donbass.

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Source of the featured image: OSCE Monitoring Mission to Ukraine/Wikimedia Commons