Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine: Before, During, and the Morning After
Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine: Before, During, and the Morning After
Religion and Social Communication 21, No. 1 (2023)
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
1. Introduction
1.1. Statement of the Problem
This paper addresses several problems. Firstly, the current Ukraine crisis has been going on since February 2022, although the impetus started when NATO reneged on its promise at the end of the Cold War not to expand eastward2 and the armed hostilities against Ukrainian-born ethnic Russians in the Donbas region, which broke the promises of Minsk Agreement.3 Secondly, there are conflicting explanations regarding the origins of the conflict. Thirdly, the current dominant political, economic, and cultural world system is struggling to maintain the status quo.
1.2. Filling the Gap
Upon reviewing the related literature, most articles reveal only one dominant or hegemonic view and take sides in the conflict. Most news coverage only portrays one side of the conflict. Emerging powers are raising their voices of discontent, as the Global South countries are starting to air out their grievances. Thus, this paper fills the gap by providing multiple concurrent divergent discourses from all sides of the conflict. We are in for a lot of disgruntlement in the world as we know it.
1.3. Research Questions
This paper responded to the following research questions:
1. What are the origins in current history of the armed hostilities in Ukraine?
2. How do key players react to Russia’s special military operation?
1.4. Purpose of the Study
Based on the above-mentioned research questions, the purpose of this study is not only to describe the origin of the special military operation and the ways in which each party to the conflict deal with the armed hostilities. Mainstream news only promotes more war to counter war. As a conflict and peace scholar and researcher, the author goes beyond being descriptive in this article, considering that this author provided research-based and empirically supported prescriptive approaches towards the resolution of the conflict.
