The webinar focused on the historical and current dynamics of the Ukraine conflict. Current Ukraine war is an escalation of the crisis that started in Ukraine in late 2013. Then President Viktor Yanukovych announced, in November 2013, to abandon Ukraine’s imminent Association Agreement with the EU and, instead, established closer ties with Russia, apparently under Moscow’s pressure.

The decision provoked massive anti-government protests (Euromaidan) demanding a pro-EU foreign policy. This led to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s autonomous region of Crimea in March 2014. The crisis further aggravated after April 2014 when Russian-backed separatists rebelled against the government and engaged in armed conflict with Ukrainian forces in Donbass in Eastern Ukraine.

On 21 February 2022, after weeks of extreme tensions, President Vladimir Putin decided to recognize the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine as independent entities and to send Russian troops into these areas. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.