Ukraine recently marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s illegal invasion and occupation of the Crimean Peninsula. While this annexation and the ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine have receded from the news, according to Ambassador Kurt Volker, U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations, 2017 was the most violent year of the conflict since it began in 2014. In that time, the war has claimed more than 10,000 lives, displaced approximately 1.6 million people, and created a humanitarian crisis for the three million citizens living on the front lines.
The violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the ongoing aggression in the Donbas represent a concerted effort by the Kremlin to undermine Ukrainian democracy. As the recent U.S. national defense strategy argues, the Kremlin “seeks veto authority over nations on its periphery in terms of their governmental, economic, and diplomatic decisions” in order to serve its own interests, for example, by stymying Ukraine’s aspirations to further integrate into European and transatlantic structures.
