There is no sign that the unfolding, unscripted tragedy will end soon. Whether in Shakespeare or ancient Greece, tragedy has five acts. The fourth act appears to have begun with Russia annexing Ukraine’s territories.
The first act was the toppling of democratically elected President Yanukovych in 2014, followed by the annexation of Crimea. The negotiated Minsk Agreements were not implemented, with each side blaming the other.
The second act started with Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership. Though NATO refused to admit Ukraine, it signed a strategic partnership charter with the U.S. on 10 November 2021, about which the Western media, including the BBC, have been surprisingly silent. The interested reader may like to see the text here.
Essentially, the U.S. guaranteed the territorial integrity of Ukraine against Russian aggression. Washington gave military assistance worth $2.6 billion to Ukraine from the 2014 annexation of Crimea to the invasion in 2022.
The third act began with Russia’s invasion on 24 February 2022. Russia focused on capturing more territory in the east, where in 2014/15, pro-Russian Ukrainians, assisted by Russia, had declared the so-called Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk. Moscow’s plans to capture the Ukrainian capital had to be abandoned in the face of stiff resistance by Ukraine.
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