World News for Students of English

28-01-2022 07:00

The sight of Russian troops, who are growing on Ukraine’s northern border, worries NATO leaders.

Ukraine is a former Soviet republic, and it has deep social and cultural ties with Russia. Russian is also widely spoken there. Since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, the Eastern European nation has been the focus between NATO and Russia. A war erupted nearly eight years ago, and since then, pro-Russian rebels control large parts of eastern Ukraine. Around 14,000 people died, and at least two million left their homes before the two countries negotiated fragile peace agreements.

Russia denies that it is planning any invasion; however, a hundred thousand soldiers are on the border. Russian president Vladimir Putin asked the West to promise that Ukraine wouldn’t join its NATO defensive group. Both sides are negotiating that it is not going to happen; however, US officials said that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any point in the next month or two.

Difficult words: annex (to take possession of an area or land, and add it to a larger area, usually by force), fragile (easily broken or threatened), invasion (the occasion when an army or country uses force to enter and take control of another country).

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