Girlsplaining What's Happening with Russia and Ukraine

Sometimes the news is incredibly daunting. Newspapers, media, and iPhone notifications give you one-sentence headlines that would alarm anyone, but definitely more so if your knowledge on the subject is incredibly limited.

“It feels like a scene from the Cold War.” Too often, we are expected to know the entire context of the situation in order to understand incoming headlines and updates. This could not be better exemplified than the current vague headlines suggesting the idea of world war 3 because of the situation going on at the Russian and Ukrainian border.

The other day on TikTok, a place often used specifically by Gen Z as a source of information, there was a video of a woman asking if someone could “Girlsplain” what was happening in Russia. If you aren't already familiar with the term, allow us to give you some much-needed context. 

Girlsplain comes from a play on words from the coined term “Mansplaining,” which is defined by Merriam-Webster as “explain[ing] something to a woman in a condescending way that assumes she has no prior knowledge about the topic.” 

In some ways, a lot of our news feels mansplained or, at the very least, comes across with a preconceived notion about how much knowledge we already have on the subject.

Girlsplaining does the exact opposite and will give you all of the information you need to fully understand the topic in a non-judgmental, helping-you take on the world type of way. That aside, let’s dive into the topic at hand. 

The conflict goes way beyond what we have been hearing about in the last couple of weeks. There has been tension between and involving Russia and Ukraine going back decades.

Their complicated relationship traces back to Ukraine’s separation from the Soviet Union in the 1990s, which actually can be traced even further back than that. Perhaps most notably in recent history and potentially one of the most direct causes was in 2014, when Russia took control of part of Ukraine. Allow me to Girlsplain.

Ukraine originally became somewhat independent from Russia in 1917 when Ukraine set up a provisional government and proclaimed itself a republic within the structure of Russia.

They struggled for a number of years to defend themselves and/or proclaim or establish their total independence which led to their aligning themselves with the USSR.

In 1922, Ukraine became one of the original constituent republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, better known as the USSR. Ukraine would not regain its independence until the fall of the USSR in 1991.

When Ukraine became independent in 1991, however, it struggled with a weak economy and foreign policy. Ukraine also struggled with a split opinion on its national identity; some aligned and identified Ukraine as a part of Europe, whereas others saw Ukraine as innately connected with Russia.

This remained the pretty consistent, but tense state of the nation for a number of years. However, this tense calmness abruptly ended around 2013 when the president of Ukraine rejected a deal for greater integration with the European Union.

This sparked a number of protests that drew international attention and support both for the protesters and against them. Following the protests, Russia attempted to regain whatever influence it had on the country and proceeded to invade and annex Crimea, a peninsula in southern Ukraine.

This resulted in years of fighting and rebellions that were detrimental to both sides and damaged the already fragile relationship between the two countries. 

This essentially brings us up to the modern-day where, after lots of political moves, fighting, and involvement in each other’s affairs, Russia has mobilized troops along Ukraine’s border. There is an alarming buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border–potentially as much as 100,000.

And, while Russia has denied any intentions of invasion of Ukraine, they have issued an ultimatum of sorts that guarantees against NATO expansion to the west, limiting Ukraine from becoming a member of the organization.

President Putin specifically has been persistent that Ukraine and other former Soviet republics should not and cannot join NATO. 

That all, of course, is a Girlsplained, simplified version of a long, complicated, and tragic conflict that has affected and taken the lives of many. While we know that any situation of this level of importance to the citizens of that country and the global community cannot be simplified or taken lightly, it is important to be informed.

Having knowledge on the subject gives us the opportunity to talk about it without fearing the dreaded mansplaining that too often comes along with talking about important and complex issues such as this one.

Photo from Unsplash.