The United States signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, along with Great Britain and Russia, guaranteeing the sovereignty of Ukraine after she left the Soviet Union in 1991. In this Agreement, Russia acknowledged Ukraine as a separate nation. Her defense was promised by all three parties.
In 2014 and then 2015, the Minsk Accords were signed to help end the separatist war in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine as negotiated by the Russians. The Accords included âwithdrawal of all foreign armed formations, equipment, and mercenaries.â Russia now claims the Minsk Accords do not exist. Russia now claims that Ukraine was to have âsymbolicâ not actual sovereignty…
