The Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022 and has now completed one year. Several factors, including global-level factors, led to the war. In the Russian context, the main factor that led to the attack on Ukraine is NATO’s expansion. NATO is an alliance of the United States, European states, and several other Western powers whose primary purpose is the containment of Russia. Ukraine was a former part of Russia before the dissolution of the USSR and shares its eastern part with the west region of Russia. Ukraine wanted to be a part of NATO, and Russia believed that Ukraine as part of NATO posed a direct threat to Russia, which is why they launched the attack against Ukraine.
Initially, at the start of the war, it seemed like an asymmetrical war between powerful Russia and weaker Ukraine. However, the long resistance of Ukrainian forces against Russia showed it as a symmetrical war. There are two different contexts about the war. Russia called it a special military operation while Zelenskyy called it a full-scale war. During the war, both states faced profound consequences such as economic, infrastructure destruction, casualties, sanctions, food insecurity, damages to education and industrial complex, and so many other negative implications the war has.
Russian and Ukrainian forces showed their military might and new weaponry systems. During the war, other major powers supported both forces economically and diplomatically and supplied military equipment. NATO and the European Union imposed sanctions over Russia, including economic sanctions, trade sanctions, and supplied military support to Ukraine, while on the other hand, Iran recently developed its drones and supplied these drones to Russia. Russian forces, in October 2022, launched their first drone attack against Ukraine. These drones were Iranian-made and called Shahed-136. The Russian forces targeted Kyiv city, which resulted in severe destruction. Ukraine military intelligence officer Vasily claimed that Iranian drones Shahed-136 are destructive and targeting the infrastructure of Kyiv city which destroyed the main building of the capital city Kyiv.
Shahed-136 is an Iranian-made drone. It is made of fiberglass and only nine feet in size. It travels at the speed of one hundred miles per hour and creates a noisy sound. It is cheap and can be launched one hundred miles away from the targeted spot. With these unique features, another character of Shahed-136 is that it can carry one hundred pounds of explosive material, which propagates severe and rigorous destruction. There is no missile or weaponry system in these drones. They carry explosive material and directly hit the targeted spot, resulting in a massive blast and destroying the target.
Shahed-136 is cheap, made of fiberglass, and can carry one hundred pounds of explosive material, resulting in massive destruction.
The factors which had a significant impact on the Ukrainian defense system and destroyed the infrastructure of the town were Shahed-136 used by Russian forces narrate the advancement of Iranian technology because a great power of the region using Iranian-made drones, which have a profound impact on Ukraine. Other than that, it also showed a military alliance between Russia and Iran because the Russian military chief said that after the successful launch of the drones, Russia would hold deeper ties with Iran. So, Shahed-136 launched in Russia Ukraine wars proves the advancement and development of Iranian military technology. The other side of the coin shows a different picture, which is that the European Union and the United States warn against the deals between Russia and Iran and showed a strong hold against the launch of drones by Russia against Ukraine. It can be analyzed that the drones launched by Russian forces against Ukraine caused severe types of destruction.
Russia-Ukraine war has serious implications at the global level because it causes significant consequences in both states and the overall international system. Examples include an energy crisis, food insecurity, decreased global economic level, and affected trade at the world level. Additionally, security issues arise, such as the use of nuclear weapons. Therefore, considering the situation as a whole, this issue needs to be resolved peacefully. Diplomatic steps should be taken to resolve the issue.
Very interesting and informative 👍