Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine: Before, During, and the Morning After

 Religion and Social Communication 21, No. 1 (2023)

Author

Rey Ty 

Abstract

Russia’s special military operation has been going on since February 24, 2022, though armed hostilities have started since 2014 and Russia’s mistrust of NATO commenced right after the end of the Cold War since 1991. The world is faced with the problem of having one-sided explanations regarding the origin of the conflict. This paper queried the following issues: What are the origins in current history of the armed hostilities in Ukraine? How do key players react to end Russia’s special military operation? The purpose was to discuss the key events of the special military actions and the ways in which the key players seek to end it. When related literature was reviewed, most articles and news coverage revealed only one perspective and took sides on the conflict. Thus, this paper fills the gap by providing alternative responses. This qualitative case study research design uses an inductive approach, for which data collection involves combing through contending views on the Ukraine crisis. The time frame starts from the current historical background to the present. News articles were analyzed. From the data analysis, codes were organized, from which themes were constructed. A taxonomy of the divergent responses to the research questions was developed. The study in this paper was conducted by categorizing the divergent news articles based on their built-in biases. Metatheory of the data which presented divergent discourses were analyzed through content analysis. Based on the findings, there are conflicting narratives regarding the Ukraine crisis, its causes, current situation, and the aftermath of the armed conflict.  

Keywords

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Peace, Russia, Special Military Operation, Ukraine   

PAGES 84-118

Submitted: February 20, 2023; Accepted: March 11, 2023; Published: May 30, 2023