How Ukraine Became a World War: New Players Are Transforming the Conflict—and Complicating the Path to Ending It

2 comments

1. [SS from essay by Michael Kimmage, Professor of History at the Catholic University of America and Richard C. Holbrooke Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. He is the author of [*Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability*](https://www.amazon.com/Collisions-Origins-Ukraine-Global-Instability/dp/0197751792); and Hanna Notte, Director of the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and Nonresident Senior Associate with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.]

   Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was an event of global magnitude. The scale of the invasion, commensurate with its goal of eliminating Ukrainian statehood, was massive. Millions of refugees fled Ukraine into the rest of Europe. Fuel and fertilizer prices shot up, stimulating inflation worldwide. The war disrupted the production and distribution of grain, generating concerns about supply far afield from Russia and Ukraine. And as the conflict stretched into its second and third years, its international repercussions have expanded in scope.

   In the war’s early stages, countries outside Europe tried mostly just to manage its effects. For those that chose not to directly back [Ukraine](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/ukraine)—not to provide Kyiv with weapons or to sanction Russia—two priorities predominated. Seeing that there were deals to be made, some countries sought to benefit from Russia’s loss of European and U.S. markets for gas, oil, and other commodities. Others offered themselves as mediators in the sincere (or insincere) hope of minimizing the war’s direct and ancillary costs or even of ending it altogether. Their diplomacy was motivated in part by the prestige that comes from adjudicating a large-scale conflict.

2. The headlines is a bit misleading. Any conflict in Europe or middle east is going to affect various parties. Its because Russia is involved. All said and done, Russia’s economy has a major impact on several countries. It was bound to affect several parties. The article is not saying anything new nor is offering anything insightful in my opinion.

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