Following weeks of military build-up along the border of Ukraine, Russia launched attack on its neighbour on February 24, 2022. The military flare-up between Russia and Ukraine dates back to 2014, when the former annexed Crimea. In January 2021, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed the U.S. to let it join NATO, a move that irked Russia, which has repeatedly demanded NATO to give up its military activities in eastern Europe and Ukraine.