- February 24th, 2022.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine begins.
What follows quickly turned into a cataclysm
for Ukraine and Russia.
After nearly a year of fighting, Ukraine's economy
and infrastructure are hard hit.
Military casualties on both sides continue to climb,
as does the toll on Ukrainian civilians.
The war is felt across the globe,
as well, where grain shipments from Ukraine
used to stave off famine in Africa.
And Russian gas kept Western Europe warm.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme,
Ukrainian grain fed 400 million people in 2021.
But during the first few months of the war,
Russia blocked shipments of grain
from leaving the Black Sea.
- The grain prices basically exacerbated the crisis
in places like Somalia,
Ethiopia, Kenya, and other places.
But even as far as the Sahel Region, which is in West Africa,
you've seen the highest levels of food insecurity
there since 2014, and many experts attribute it,
in part, to these rising food prices, particularly of grains.
I mean, Ukraine and Russia, historically,
have been among the largest exporters of grain to Africa
and the Middle East.
- As grain carriers stayed moored in Ukrainian waters,
on land, the flow of refugees fleeing the violence
spilled into neighboring countries.
According to the International Rescue Committee,
there are nearly 8 million Ukrainian refugees
across Europe.
And another 6 million Ukrainians
are displaced inside the country.
- The refugees have basically fled to neighboring countries.
Poland alone has granted protection for 1.
2 million Ukrainians.
And other countries -- Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Moldova --
have all also basically allowed them into their countries
and are providing refuge.
You know, they've also gone as far away
as even Spain and the UK.
- Russians, too, fled their country in record numbers.
The war and Russian president
Vladimir Putin's botched military mobilization
set off a flood of emigration from Russia not seen since 1917.
Ukrainian refugees, although welcomed by their neighbors
for the most part, enter a Europe
that is wary of soaring costs for goods and fuel.
- I know that Europeans are concerned,
concerned about inflation,
concerned about their energy bills,
concerned about the winter.
The International Monetary Fund
warned in January of this year that any escalation in the war
would be a major pain point for Europe.
The war has already affected trade,
spurred global inflation fears
and concerns over energy and gas distribution.
- These increases in energy and food prices
have hurt the most the poorest both within economies,
but also the low income countries.
- With high prices and a reduction
in Russian energy exports,
economists have also seen a change
in attitude toward renewable energy.
- For the first time in 2022,
the EU generated more electricity
from renewables and from natural gas.
That is a remarkable shift.
- The war has also changed
the thinking of Ukraine's role in NATO.
For years, NATO membership for Ukraine has been out of reach,
with the NATO members walking a fine line
of appeasing Russian objections and offering Ukraine vague
promises of membership at some point.
- Well, definitely, the war seems to have united NATO
unlike anything they've seen before
and also made them closer to Ukraine, as well as the EU.
- With Russia annexing Crimea in 2014 and invading in 2022,
the argument against Ukraine membership is dwindling.
And in fact, NATO could be growing.
- Both Sweden and Finland,
which initially had always been non-aligned with NATO,
they have opted to join NATO
and they've put in applications for it.
So that itself shows you how concerned these countries
are of what they see as a new era of Russian aggression.
- What Putin feared -- a strong United NATO --
is happening before his eyes.
For now, the West's resolve is strong,
supplying Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, and money.
But as the war churns into its second year,
the biggest risk is if the conflict intensifies,
leading to even more refugees,
more destruction, more injured, and more dead.