For almost a year now, Ukraine has been battling to keep regions such as Crimea out of Russian hands. In recent times, Crimea has broken off from the Ukraine and has been annexed by Russia. Vladimir Putin has claimed that, “Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia in the hearts and minds of people.” Crimea to this day has been able to stay independent of Ukraine with the help of a pro-Russian militia that has been largely aided by Russia.

The West has condemned Russia but has done little to help Ukraine besides provide limited economic sanctions on a select number of people in Russia. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko recently pleaded to congress to, “not let Ukraine stand alone.” He also asked the United States for lethal weapons rather than have them aid the removal of the rebels from the country. He stated that, “one cannot win wars with blankets.”

People in the U.S such as Brad Johnson, military veteran and contractor said, “Russia has annexed the Crimean Peninsula simply because Russia is looking to expand its naval dominance by taking these warm water ports.” He states that, “Ever since Vladimir Putin took office, he seems to have tried to start back up what the Soviets ended in the Cold War.”

When asked about what the U.S should do with Ukraine, Dillon Flannery, a student at Regis Jesuit, said, “I think we should not intervene until the situation directly affects us because ISIS is a bigger issue.” He went on the record, saying, “The U.S shouldn’t give the Ukrainians weapons because this will anger Russia even more. We need to keep Russia at bay and arming the population won’t help. France, Germany, and England should be the ones helping the Ukrainians since they are more directly affected by the situation,” after being asked whether the United States should send weapons to Ukraine.

Brandon Selz, another student at Regis Jesuit, when asked about the Ukraine situation, responded by saying, “I think the U.S. should leave it to the U.N or N.A.T.O to avoid any major conflicts. N.A.T.O, not including the U.S, should provide Ukraine with weapons. But, this should only be done if countries in N.A.T.O are under direct threat from Russia.

Right now, many people in the U.S believe that Ukraine has problems that need to be solved without U.S support.  This is due to that fact that the U.S has a multitude of other problems that have a higher priority than the Ukraine crisis.