LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Discussions about the war in Ukraine are happening at the University of Kentucky. Administrators from different departments are speaking about how these global events impact everyone.
People across the world continue showing support for Ukraine. Russia's invasion has many wondering how this all began.
"Since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine has decisively turned toward the west, and this has been a very difficult situation for Vladimir Putin who really believes that Ukraine should be a part of the Russian state,” says Dr. Karen Petrone.
Dr. Petrone is a professor of history at the University of Kentucky. She and other university faculty held a zoom discussion breaking down what's taking place across the globe.
“On the Ukrainian side, they have been a huge outpouring of bravery and patriotism. There is a sense that they, Ukrainians have for 30 years had their independence. This is the first time they've been independent. They've sought independence the middle of the 19th century and they've only become independent in 1991 and they really value their country, and they are proud patriots of their country, and they'll do anything they can to keep their country alive,” says Dr. Patrone.
Some asked what western countries can do to help. Dr. Patrone says, “There is a kind of tight rope that we're walking because you do not want to provoke an escalation of war. At the same time, you want to make it clear in terms of the economic and military preparedness, and sanctions and everything, that this is unacceptable behavior."
Nearly 500 people signed up to join Wednesday's talk. Other university leaders had more to say about the economic impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Stuff that happens abroad has an impact on the economies that we have here. So, we have to pay attention to these things - even if it’s a case like Ukraine and Russia, where they don't produce anything that we buy directly - the Russians produce energy and the Ukrainians produce grain and both of these are incredibly important to the function in the global system. We live in the globalized world, and so, it affects us here,” says Dr. Robert Farley.
Dr. Farley says the bigger economic story now is the number of sanctions that have been imposed on Russia by the U.S., Japan, and western Europe.
"It appears to be absolutely devastating the Russian economy. We are seeing a collapse of the ruble, collapse of the Russian stock market. We're seeing Russia have a lot of difficultly exporting energy, exporting oil, natural gas, shipping things out of the country because shipping companies don’t want to handle Russian exports at this moment. That kind of disruption hurts Russia a lot, but it also affects the rest of the world,” says Dr. Farley.
Dr. Petrone says it's everyone's responsibility to be informed on what's happening and learn its context.
"We are often called the University for Kentucky and I think that that is important. We really want to be able to help that state, the commonwealth the big issues that are presented."
If you want to hear today's full discussion, you can listen here www.as.uky.edu/vss.
