The Ukraine War (2022-2029)

## Lead up to the Conflict

Following the dissolution of the USSR, the nation of Ukraine was formed. As the fledgling nation gained its independence, the territory found itself to be in possession of a sizable nuclear arsenal left by the former Soviet Union. In 1994, Ukraine, NATO, and Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum which stripped Ukraine of its nuclear assets in exchange for a guarantee of its territorial integrity.

In 2013, as Ukraine slowly inched in the direction of the European Union, pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych decided to harm relations with the EU and foster closer ties with the Russian Federation. This move triggered massive pro-EU protests across the nation, leading to Yanukovych's eventual deposal. This, in turn, stoked anti-Ukraine sentiment within the majority ethnic Russian region of the Donbas. Both sides failed to reach a peaceful agreement, and fighting ensued. The Russian separatists received covert support from the Russian Federation within their direct involvement. Not soon after, Russia seized and annexed the region of Crimea, adding it to the Federation.

In 2022, the Russian Federation, led by President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine following threats of its accession to the EU and NATO. Both sides claimed this was a breach of the Budapest Memorandum.

## The Conflict

The seven-year armed conflict eventually claimed the lives of 312.000 men, women, and children. Ukraine, on its own, would not have been able to defend its territory without widespread international support, chiefly led by the United States. The Russian Federation's failure to capture its smaller neighbor is attributed to poor military standards, likely caused by frequent administrative purges which decimated the upper echelons of Russia's army and government.

While Russia was initially successful, following the massive outpour of global support, Ukraine was able to push the advancing Russians away from its capital by 2023. The majority of the war was a stalemate primarily fought in the Donbas while Russian artillery and missile systems targeted Ukrainian towns and cities even far beyond their mutual border.

Throughout 2024 to 2026, the Russian Federation engaged in acts of ethnic cleansing against ethnic Ukrainians in the Donbas. Children below the age of 4 would be taken from their parents and sent to boarding schools in the Russian Federation. Male and female resistance fighters would be rounded up and executed. Their homes and belongings would be razed and destroyed as they were dismembered and buried in mass graves. Those unable to fight or work were also executed. Men and women who could work were taken to internment camps where they performed manual labor until they were also executed and buried. Putin signed the Russia First Directive as early as 2022, authorizing and supporting a plan for an ethnically pure and fertile Ukraine.

In 2027, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy suffered fatal injuries after pro-Russian elements intercepted his convoy to Kyiv. This event was followed by a renewed Russian offensive that broke through the Donbas for the first time since 2022. At the gates of Kyiv, the Russian Army deployed nerve agents which were prohibited by the Geneva Convention. Many NATO volunteers were caught in the attack, prompting the Alliance to take a more direct role in the war.

2028 saw the beginning of the Russian Civil War. Agents sent in by the CIA had managed to organize a coup within the nation after creating a network of agents which started in 2023. President Putin was seized by members of the Russian army, led by NATO-puppet Aleksandar Tomorov. The country was thrust into a civil war, which drew most of the resources being put into the Ukraine War.

The Russian Civil War ended in 2029, following Tomorov's victory. The Russian Federation was abolished. The Russian Democratic Republic formed around the central government in Moscow. Many nations seceded from the former Russian Federation, including:

* The Duchy of Kaliningrad
* The Republic of Novgorod
* The Caucasian Confederation
* The Republic of Altaistan
* The People's Republic of Yakutia
* The Siberian Federation

Many of Russia's former eastern holdings were seized by the PRC and Japan. While some of its territory from the Caucuses was reclaimed by Georgia. The Donbas was reclaimed by Ukraine, while Crimea was granted independence as a demilitarized zone as the Crimean Republic.

## The Aftermath

The War in Ukraine irreversibly shifted the balance of geopolitics. The United States and China now stood alone as the sole global superpowers. NATO was reassured of its military capabilities and its policy shifted toward more interventionism. Every other Eastern European country joined the EU in the years following the war, including: Ukraine, Belarus, Kaliningrad, Novgorod, and the Russian Democratic Republic.

Vladimir Putin survived the war, but was taken in by NATO authorities and tried before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Russian Federation (ICTRF). He passed away in his own cell from health complications before he was fully tried. The court nevertheless found him guilty of all charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Finally, the Ukraine War set a precedent within EU politics, wherein ethnic nationalism was assaulted within most European countries. Nationalist parties were banned and nationalist leaders were forced to resign by massive protests. The EU began to see itself as the only way forward for a peaceful Europe. As the US drifted further in the direction of post-capitalist nationalism, the EU started to sever its ties with NA, instead embracing a path toward European Unity with plans for a European Federation. The only piece missing were the Balkans.