Several of you have commented on the fact that, other than the odd cursory mention, I’ve had precious little to say on the Russian/Ukraine conflict and I remain guilty as charged. Truth be told, firstly, I feel I’ve nothing of note to add to the current discussions that are taking place and secondly, I’m still a little disbelieving that it’s actually happening at all. Cards on the table, I was 100% certain that Putin would do nothing more than rattle his Cossack sabres and sound-off about NATO to anyone caring to listen. Whoops. But what really made him pull the pin?

As it transpires, the war is part and parcel of a long-standing argument about the whole region’s history and ancestry, one that Vladimir Putin is patently obsessed with.

Like most Russian nationalists, Putin believes Ukrainians and Russians are one people, brother nations descended from the ninth century’s Orthodox Christian Russian state, Kievan Rus. With its power extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic, it was seen as the font of Russian culture, religion and societal norms. Mind, it wasn’t all plain sailing: the Mongol hordes put paid to the larger dynasty in the 13^th century; several hundred years later Poland and Austria ruled the roost; the 18^th century witnessed Russia regain control of the east and Catherine the Great oversaw its widespread ‘Russification’. Seen either as liberation or occupation, Ukrainian nationalism emerged as a force in the latter part of the 1800s and the country experienced its first spell of independence post WW1, though it was short lived as the Red Army invaded again in 1921, eventually sharing the spoils with Poland.

Initially, the Soviets appeared a relatively benign occupying force, actively encouraging a level of autonomy and individuality which saw the promotion of the Ukrainian language and a unique culture. Unsurprisingly, this all changed under Stalin and during the 1933 Holodomor (‘extermination by hunger’) famine somewhere between four to seven million people died, the country was judiciously repopulated with ethnic Russians and the remaining 200,000 native Crimean Tatars were unceremoniously shown the door. However, Ukraine nationalism persisted and, following the collapse of the USSR, the country declared independence in 1991 and ratified it with a referendum ‘yes’ decision of over 90%.

It was during these times, when the new EU, NATO, US and Russian battle-lines were being drawn, that things appeared to take a turn for the worse. Technically, NATO’s promise to not expand “one inch to the east” referred specifically, and only, to the reunified Eastern Germany but many, including Vlad the Intruder, considered it to mean the whole of the east. Since this time, the military alliance has expanded to include nine new central and eastern European states and Moscow considers this to be tantamount to daylight robbery. “They conned us” said Putin earlier this month, “they simply cheated us.” It has been an itch Putin has needed to scratch ever since, witnessed by the subsequent annexation of Crimea and support/promotion of separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk. And now by the war he’s raging.

Mind, the cynics out there may argue that’s this confrontation has precious little to do with dogma, ideology and history and everything to do with economics, resources and the future. Is this truly why the Ukraine matters?:

• 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores
• 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves
• 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world’s reserves)
• 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons)
• 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves
• 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
• 4th in the world by the total value of natural resources
• 7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)

Furthermore, Ukraine is an extremely important agricultural country and can ultimately meet the food needs of 600 million people:

• 1st in Europe in terms of arable land area
• 3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world’s volume)
• 1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil
• 2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports
• 3rd largest producer of corn in the world
• 4th largest producer of potatoes in the world
• 5th largest rye producer in the world
• 8th place in the world in wheat exports
• 9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs

And as an important fully industrialised economy the Ukraine is no slouch either:

• 1st in Europe in ammonia production
• Has Europe’s 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system
• 3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants
• 3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km)
• 3rd largest iron exporter in the world
• 4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world
• 4th world’s largest manufacturer of rocket launchers
• 4th place in the world in clay exports
• 4th place in the world in titanium exports
• 8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates
• 9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products
• 10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons)

For whatever reasons you care to choose, the Ukraine obviously matters. It matters a lot, to a lot of people and that is why its independence is important to the rest of the world.