Considered one of the most alarming European conflicts of this century, the crisis in Ukraine has escalated to a convoluted military standoff between Ukraine and Russia with the rest of the world carefully following.

Ukraine is considered a culturally divided country; Eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula lean toward Russian culture and ideology, while Western Ukraine has more influence from other Eastern European countries and the Western world.

This division became even more pronounced in 2010 when Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who is decidedly on the Eastern Ukrainian cultural divide, was elected president. After four years of bloody political demonstrations and protests against his administration, including refusals to further integrate Ukraine with the European Union, allegations of corruption, censorship, and attempts to create a “controlled democracy,” Yanukovych was finally ousted by protesters on February 22, 2014. He was officially impeached by the Ukrainian Parliament the following week. Soon after he was ousted, he fled to Russia and publicly denied that he was ever removed from power.

The opposition to the Yanukovych administration has taken over the capital city of Kiev and assumed control of the national government. Russia, a country deeply involved with Ukrainian affairs, is opposed to this new government, and insists that Yanukovych is still the legitimate president. The Russian legislative body approved Russian president Vladimir Putin’s request to send troops into Ukraine, with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claiming that ethnic Russians in the region of the Crimean peninsula need to be protected. However, the Ukrainian government strongly refutes this, insisting that Russians living in Ukraine are in no danger, and claims that Russia’s ulterior motive is to annex Ukraine.

Soldiers, bearing no insignia denoting which country they serve (although the Ukrainian government and the United States affirm they are Russian), have seized a number of Ukrainian military bases and airfields, outnumbering and outgunning Ukrainian soldiers. Russian ships have appeared in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, and large numbers of armored vehicles have been seen on the border between Russia and Ukraine. Russia essentially has complete military control of Crimea.

The impact of these events extends even to students at Pine Crest. Junior Oleksandr Strelko, who was born in Kiev and lived there until the age of 12, sat down to talk about how he’s been affected by the crisis, thousands of miles away.

“A couple of weeks ago I [received] an enlistment notice from the Ukrainian Army which means that I will [be] drafted whenever my country will need me to serve. This means that if Russia [starts] a war with Ukraine, I will have to go back to Ukraine to protect my country. Because of that, my graduation from Pine Crest is under jeopardy,” says Strelko.  In terms of how he hopes this crisis will end, he said, “I hope Mr. Putin … will give Ukraine an opportunity to decide its own … politics, and will respect the sovereignty of Ukraine.”

Freshman Anastasia Golovkine, who has family in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa, says, “Ukraine and Russia, they were always friends, they never fought, they were like sister nations. There are still people in Odessa that speak Ukrainian, and everyone understands each other perfectly. So I could speak to someone in Russian, and they could respond in Ukrainian, and we could have a normal conversation. I don’t believe that Russia should have gotten involved, I don’t think they really had anything to do with it, and, as far as I know, the United States is trying to get Russia out of Ukraine, which I do agree with. I think Russia should just mind their own business, because it’s just going to start a problem between two nations that didn’t have a problem before.”

Despite pressures from the international community, the number of Russian soldiers in Ukraine is increasing everyday. Ukrainian officials have considered this “a declaration of war” from Russia.

Russia has suffered many repercussions for these military actions. Russian stocks have fallen about 10%, and the value of the ruble, Russia’s currency, has reached its lowest point when compared to the dollar and the euro; both are considered the beginnings of a financial collapse.

Russia now stands alone among the international community. Several U.N. Security Council meetings have been held, but Russia has refused to withdraw from Crimea. The EU has threatened to lay economic sanctions on Russia for violating Ukraine’s sovereignty. Furthermore, the U.S. announced that there will not be an American presidential delegate sent to the 2014 Paralympics in Russia, stopped all trade and investment talks with Russia, and threatened to withdraw from the 40th G8 Summit, chaired by Russia, unless President Putin withdraws Russian troops from Ukraine.

On Thursday morning, March 6, 2014, the Crimean Parliament, holding some level of autonomy from the Ukrainian Parliament, voted in a 78-0 vote, with 8 abstentions, to become a part of Russia. A referendum for a vote deciding whether or not to ratify this decision has been moved up from the end of the month to March 16th.

These events have been called “the biggest crisis of the 21st century” by William Hague, British Secretary of State. No matter how this crisis ends, Russia will face massive consequences for violating international law.