RUSSIA UKRAINE WAR: What started the Ukraine and Russia war, fact and history.

Russian aggression on its border with Ukraine has resulted in one of greatest security crises in Europe since world war II. In 2014, Russia had annexed Crimea, a crucial port region in Ukraine. Conflicts between the two nations continue till today but the recent Russian build-up of 100,000 troops along the border has triggered tensions to unprecedented levels. Russia has severally denied that it is planning a military intervention, but it has presented NATO with a list of security demands including banning Ukraine and other former Soviet union states from joining the NATO. Additionally, Russia has asked NATO to abandon military activity in Eastern Europe, which would mean pulling out combat units from Poland and the Baltic states. To put it simply, Russia wants NATO to return to its pre-1997 borders. Under Catherine the Great, much of Ukraine's territory became part of the Russian empire in the late 1700s. In the mid 20th century, Ukraine battled for freedom yet lost and turned into a piece of the Soviet Union. Even as a member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, it has always had its own status. Ukrainian farmland and wheat fields were stolen during Joseph Stalin's rule in the 1930s, culminating in a massive famine that killed around four million people. Following the disbandment of Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine declared independence. A significant percentage of the Soviet nuclear arsenal were located within Ukraine's borders at the time, and the country decided to hand over those weapons to Russia in exchange for a deal assuring them of peace. Even as cultural ties to Russia persist, particularly in Ukraine's east, the country's democratically elected government moved closer to Western Europe in recent years. Putin's desire to resurrect the Russian Empire has progressed beyond the annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which he took in 2014.