The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is not an out of the blue event of violence and aggression. Russia has had a violent past towards Ukraine for hundreds of years especially during the time of the USSR.
From 1918-1921 Russian Bolsheviks waged war against the Ukrainian People's Republic and started the USSR occupation of Ukraine.
Since 1929 Russia has practiced forced collectivization which led to 1-2 million people killed or deported to gulags.
In 1921-1923 and 1946-1947 artificial famines claimed the lives of anywhere from 1-5 millions victims.
From 1930 to around 1950 the Great Purge clamed the lives of 200k victims.
From 1932-1933 Holodomor the Genocide of Ukrainians claimed the lives of 4-5 million people. An artificial famine where all food and grain was destroyed or taken.
In 1939-1941 Russia had a forced deportation from Western Ukraine into remote regions of Russia which saw 300k deported and 24k killed.
In 1942-1959 Russia waged war against the Ukrainian Insurgent Army which led to the deaths of 153k Ukrainians and 132k Ukrainians repressed.
In 1944 Russia deported 200k Crimean Tatars from native Crimea.
From 1960-1989 Russia conducted political imprisonment of Ukrainian dissidents. Ukrainian political prisoners comprised at least 65% of USSR's concentration camps which numbered around 1000 people.
The number of Ukrainian victims is not a final number and does not included those persecuted for their religion.
So these aren't the total numbers, and Russian has killed somewhere of almost around 10 million Ukrainians in the 20th century alone.
So who is the aggressor in this equation? Who has the history of violence and brutality in it's DNA going back all the way to Ivan the Terrible?
It's sad that a majority of the world does not know this history. Being born in Ukraine and my family persecuted for our religious beliefs, I know first had the impact.
The statistics come from the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and the Center for Research of Liberation Movement.
