Ukraine Crisis

The situation in the Ukraine is ever changing. According to a USA Today article, it began in earnest on Nov. 21, when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s government announced that it would work towards becoming economically closer to Russia, striking down a popular proposal to join the European Union. Protests began almost immediately. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets.

The protests eventually turned to violent and bloody riots. According to a New York Times Article by Andrew Kramer and Andrew Higgins, over 70 people were killed in a single day.

On Feb. 22, a day before the end of the Sochi Winter Games, President Yanukoyvh fled the country. The Ukrainian parliament voted unanimously to impeach him.

Then, on Feb. 27, Yanukoyvh was discovered to be in Russia. The next day, Russian soldiers entered Ukraine and took control of military airports in the Crimean Peninsula, an important Black Sea Peninsula in the south of Ukraine with an ethnic Russian majority.

Since then, Russian President Vladimir Putin has continued to increase the number of troops in the region.

On March 16, the people of Crimea voted to join Russia, and on March 18 Vladimir Putin signed the annexation of Crimea.

The United States has placed economic sanctions on Russian officials, but this has not yet had any apparent effect.

“[JC students] should care out of a sense of responsibility about knowing what goes on in the world because ultimately, anything that happens on that level will eventually impact the US, but we shouldn’t overly concern ourselves with fear mongering,” U.S. History teacher Tony Del Puppo said. “There isn’t going to be World War III over the Ukraine.”

Sophomore Darian Weldon agrees with Del Puppo, “I’m not sure if [war] going to happen but it could happen to the US at any time,” Weldon said.

But not all students stay up to date on global issues. “I don’t watch the news,” junior Jerome Brown said.

Sophomore John Perry added, “it’s important with the upcoming [2016 US Presidential Election] because we are going to be involved soon.”

Justin Hawkins is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.