Tensions have been rising in Ukraine over the last few weeks, and international discussions have been escalating as a result. Russia has gathered 100,000 troops near the Ukranian border but the Russian government denies planning an invasion of any Ukranian territory.
It comes on the back of a series of demands that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made to western powers, including that Ukraine should never be allowed to join NATO and that the defensive alliance abandons military activity in eastern Europe. Dr. Lena Surzhko-Harned is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science at Behrend College at Penn State University and a contributor to Harvard's Journal of Ukrainian Studies.
Ukraine soldiers conducts tactical exercises at one of the all-military training grounds of the southern Ukraine's Kherson region. Photo: AFP
