Easy News: Russia attacks Ukraine

Russia has invaded Ukraine. An invasion is when 1 country sends their army into another country to attack them. This is making people around the world very worried.

Vladimir Putin is the Russian President. His army attacked Ukraine with lots of bombs, killing lots of people and destroying buildings.

His army has also taken over Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This is where Europe’s worst nuclear disaster happened in 1986, and where no one is allowed because of the risk of radiation, which can kill people.

People around the world are protesting in the streets about what Putin is doing. This includes lots of Russians living in Russia, even though protesting is against the law and they could go to jail for doing so.

Ukraine used to be part of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), which was controlled from Moscow. When the USSR ended in 1991, countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, and others became independent countries.

Vladimir Putin is attacking Ukraine because they will not do what he wants.

One of the things he is angry about is Ukraine wanting to join NATO. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

30 countries are members of NATO, including the UK and USA. NATO countries have promised to help each other if they are attacked by another country, such as Russia.

Putin is worried that if Ukraine becomes part of NATO, Russia will then share borders with three NATO countries. Borders are where the edge of one country meets the edge of another country.

Putin does not trust NATO and sees it as a threat to Russia. Russia does not want Ukraine to join NATO.

Russia also wants NATO to return to its pre-1997 borders, before 14 countries close to Russia joined NATO. These countries include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

Ukraine have said they should have the right to decide for themselves whether it wishes to join NATO or not.

NATO countries have soldiers to the west of Ukraine in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria but have not sent their armies to help Ukraine. Some are helping Ukraine by giving them weapons to fight Putin’s army.

They have ordered serious sanctions against Russia. Sanctions are a way of punishing a country, for example, by not buying or selling products from them, blocking their banks and stopping them from flying to and from other countries.

Sporting events that were planned to take place in Russia have been cancelled or moved to other countries, including the Champion’s League football and Winter Olympic skiing.

Gas and oil prices have risen since Russia invaded Ukraine. This is because countries around the world buy a lot of their oil and gas from Russia and now this will be harder to get.

Most of the people who live in Ukraine do not want to be ruled by Russia. But two areas of Eastern Ukraine are controlled by Russian separatists. These are people who do want to be ruled by Russia.

More than 3.6 million Ukrainians have left their country to get help living in other countries to stay safe from war. These are called refugees.

Ukraine is not letting any healthy men aged between 18 and 60 years old leave the country. They have been told they must stay and help fight the Russians.

It is hoped that diplomacy – leaders of countries talking to each other and trying to agree with each other - will stop Russia carrying on attacking Ukraine and starting a big war. But Putin has threatened any countries who try to stop him with nuclear weapons.

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