Alfredo Bosco

On February 24, 2022, the military offensive of the Russian army invaded Ukrainian territory after months of diplomatic tensions.
One of the reasons presented by the Russian government is linked to NATO's eastward expansion after the end of the Cold War.
By leveraging on this argument, the Kremlin does not believe that it has violated the historic Budapest memorandum, the agreement signed in 1994 by which Ukraine agreed to renounce its nuclear weapons and hand them over to neighbouring Russia in exchange for guarantees for its security, independence and territorial integrity.
The conflict has deep roots, stemming from broken dialogues over time between Western forces and the young Russia, which inherited political and military power from the Soviet Union.
Unkept promises on both sides which eventually led to the bombing of Kyiv.
Signs that such an escalation would take place were clear from the start, especially after the beginning of the Russian-Ukraininan crisis in 2014, which was terribly understimated by both the European Union and the US.
The conflict interested the entire country, and it evolved within a few months - from fear in the capital city over the arrival of Russian forces, to a total clash in the Donbas region.
Cities like Avdiivka, on the border of the unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic, have therefore been involved in the conflict for eight years. If the local population was already used to taking refuge in basements, now every big city did the same.
At the moment there are no clear resolution proposals and there is the risk for a long war ahead, right at the doorstep of Europe. Meanwhile, the bombs keep falling on the population and the concept of mourning takes on new meanings: the absence of life, but also the absence of light and hope.
Since the outbreak of the conflict, we have witnessed to the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since WWII and the Donbas region has once again become a great chessboard for a war that is being fought without any clear end in sight.