Articles of Indian Constitution which must know by everyone.

 Which are the must-know articles of the Indian Constitution?

Original Indian Constitution, when adopted by Constituent Assembly in 1949, had 395 articles and 22 parts. Many other articles and three other parts were added to it by subsequent constitutional amendments. As of now, the Indian constitution has about 450 articles in 25 parts.

In this post, let’s learn the must-know articles of the Indian Constitution.

Must-Know Articles of Indian Constitution

It’s not expected from a UPSC aspirant to by-heart all articles in Indian Constitution. But he/she is expected to have a fair idea about the nature and salient features of the Indian Constitution like Federalism, Separation of Powers, Fundamental Rights etc.

Article 12 –35

Specify the Fundamental Rights available

Article 36-51

Specify the Directive Principles of state policy

Article 51A

Specifies the Fundamental Duties of every citizen

Article 80

Specifies the number of seats in the Rajya Sabha

Article 81

Specifies the number of seats in the Lok Sabha

Article 343

Hindi as official language

Article 356

Imposition of President’s Rule in states

Article 370

Special status to Kashmir

Article 395

Repeals India Independence Act and Government of India Act, 1935

Other Important Articles of the Indian Constitution

While learning, take a special note on the below articles.

Part 1 – Art. 1 to art. 4

Article 1- Name and territory of the union.

Article 2 – Admission and Establishment of the new state.

Article 3 – Formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries, and the name of existing states.

Part 2 – Art. 5 to art. 11

Article 5 – Citizenship at the commencement of the constitution.

Article 6- Rights of citizenship of a certain person who has migrated to India from Pakistan.

Article 10- continuance of rights of citizenship.

Article 11- Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law.

Part 3 – Art.12 to art.35

Article 12- Definition of the state

Article 13 Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights.

Originally, the constitution provided for 7 basic fundamental rights, now there are only six rights, one Right to property U/A 31 was deleted from the list of fundamental rights by 44th amendment act 1978. It made a legal right U/A 300-A in Part XII of the constitution.

Some important Fundamental Rights are:

RIGHT TO EQUALITY: ART. 14 TO ART. 18

Article 14- Equality before the law.

Article 15- Prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex. Or place of birth.

Article 16- Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.

Article 17- Abolition of the untouchability.

Article 18- Abolition of titles

RIGHT TO FREEDOM: ART. 19 TO ART. 22

Art.19 guarantees to all the citizens the six rights

· (a) Right to freedom of speech and expression.

· (b) Right to assemble peacefully and without arms.

· (c) Right to form associations or unions.

· (d) Right to move freely throughout the territory of India.

· (e) Right to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.

· (f) Right to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade, and business.

Article 20- Protection in respect of conviction for offences.

Article 21-Protection of life and personal liberty.

Article 21A –  Right to education

Article 22- Protection against arrest and detention in certain cases.

RIGHT AGAINST EXPLOITATION: ART.23 & ART. 24

Article 23- Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour.

Article 24- Prohibition of employment of children in factories and mines under age of 14.

RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION: ART.25 TO ART. 28

Article 25- Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.

Article 26- Freedom to manage religious affairs.

Article 27- Freedom as to pay taxes for promotion of any particular religion.

Article 28- Freedom from attending religious instruction.

CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS: ART.29 & ART. 30

Article 29- Protection of interest of minorities.

Article 30- Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

Article 32- Remedies for enforcement of Fundamental Rights.

Part.4 Directive Principal of states Policy: Art 36 to art. 51

Article 36- Definition

Article 37- Application of DPSP

Article 39A- Equal justice and free legal aid

Article 40- Organisation of village panchayat

Article 41- Right to work, to education, and to public assistance in certain cases

Article 43- Living Wages, etc. for Workers.

Article 43A- Participation of workers in management of industries.

Article 44- Uniform civil code.( applicable in Goa only)

Article 45- Provision for free and compulsory education for children.

Article 46- Promotion of educational and economic interest of scheduled castes, ST, and OBC.

Article 47-Duty of the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health.

Article 48-Organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry.

Article 49- Protection of monuments and places and objects of natural importance.

Article 50- Separation of judiciary from the executive.

Article 51- Promotion of international peace and security.

Fundamental Duties: Part IV-A- Art 51A

It contains, originally 10 duties, now it contains 11 duties by 86th amendments act 2002.

Part 5 – Union ( 52-151)

Article 52- The President of India

Article 53- Executive Power of the union.

Article 54- Election of President

Article 61- Procedure for Impeachment of the President.

Article 63- The Vice-president of India.

Article 64- The Vice-President to be ex-officio chairman the Council of States.

Article 66-Election of Vice-president.

Article 72-Pardoning powers of President.

Article 74- Council of Ministers to aid and advise the President.

Article 76- Attorney-General for India.

Article 79- Constitution of Parliament

Article 80- Composition of Rajya Sabha.

Article 81- Composition of Lok Sabha.

Article 83- Duration of Houses of Parliament.

Article 93- The speakers and Deputy speakers of the house of the people.

Article 105- Powers, Privileges, etc of the House of Parliament.

Article 109- Special procedure in respect of money bills

Article 110- Definition of “Money Bills”.

Article 112- Annual Financial Budget.

Article 114-Appropriation Bills.

Article 123- Powers of the President to promulgate Ordinances during recess of parliament.

Article 124- Establishment of Supreme Court.

Article 125- Salaries of Judges.

Article 126- Appointment of acting Chief justice.

Article 127- Appointment of ad-hoc judges.

Article 128-Attendance of a retired judge at sitting of the Supreme Court.

Article 129- Supreme court to be a court of Record.

Article 130- Seat of the Supreme court.

Article 136- Special leaves for appeal to the Supreme Court.

Article 137- Review of judgement or orders by the Supreme court.

Article 141-Decision of the Supreme Court binding on all the courts.

Article 148- Comptroller and Auditor- General of India

Article 149- Duties and Powers of CAG.

Part 6 – States ( 152-237)

Article 153- Governors of State

Article 154- Executive Powers of Governor.

Article 161- Pardoning powers of the Governor.

Article 165- Advocate-General of the State.

Article 213- Power of Governor to promulgate ordinances.

Article 214- High Courts for states.

Article 215- High Courts to be a court of record.

Article 226- Power of High Courts to issue certain writs.

Article 233- Appointment of District judges.

Article 235- Control over Sub-ordinate Courts.

Part 7 – 238 – Repealed

Part 8 – 239-242 – Union Territories

Part 9 – 243-243 O – Panchayats

Article 243A- Gram Sabha

Article 243B- Constitution of Panchayats

Part 9A – 243 P-243 ZG – Municipalities

Part 9B – 243 ZH-243 ZT- Co-operative Societies

Part 10: Scheduled and Tribal Areas -244

Part 11: Center- State Relations 245 – 263

Part 12: Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits (264 – 300A)

Article 266- Consolidated Fund and Public Accounts Fund

Article 267- Contingency Fund of India

Article 280- Finance Commission

Article 300-A- Right to property.

Part 13: Trade, Commerce and Intercourse within the territories of India (301-307)

Article 301-Freedom to trade, commerce, and intercourse.

Article 302- Power of Parliament to impose restrictions on trade, commerce, and intercourse.

Part 14: Services Under Center and State (308-323)

Article 312- All- India-Service.

Article 315- Public service commissions for the union and for the states

Article 320- Functions of Public Service Commission.

Part 14A: Tribunals (323 A – 323 B)

Article 323A- Administrative Tribunals

Part 15 : Elections (324 – 329)

Article 324-Superintendence, direction and control of Elections to be vested in an Election Commission.

Article 325- No person to be ineligible for inclusion in or to claim to be included in a special, electoral roll on grounds of religion, race, caste, or sex.

Article 326- Elections to the house of the people and to the legislative assemblies of states to be on the basis of adult suffrage.

Part 16: Special Provisions to SC, ST, OBC, Minorities etc (330 -342)

Article 338- National Commission for the SC, & ST.

Article 340- Appointment of a commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes.

Part 17: Official Language (343- 351)

Article 343- Official languages of the Union.

Article 345- Official languages or languages of states.

Article 348- Languages to be used in the Supreme Court and in the High Courts.

Article 351-Directive for development of the Hindi languages.

Part 18: Emergency (352-360)

Article 352- Proclamation of emergency ( National Emergency).

Article 356- State Emergency (President’s Rule)

Article 360- Financial Emergency

Part 19: Miscellaneous (361-367)

Article 361- Protection of President and Governors

Part 20: Amendment of Constitution (368)

Article 368- Powers of Parliaments to amend the constitution.

Part 21: Special, Transitional and Temporary Provisions (369 – 392)

Article 370 – Special provision of J&K.

Article 371A –  Special provision with respect to the State of Nagaland

Article 371-J: Special Status for Hyderabad-Karnataka region

Part 22: Short Text, Commencement, Authoritative Text in Hindi and Repeals (392 – 395)

Article 393 – Short title – This Constitution may be called the Constitution of India.

Statistical analysis of Psychology & Public Administration together for mains

 

Statistical analysis of Psychology & Public Administration together for mains

Optional subjects: scoring, popularity and benefits. Here is my analysis of civil services examination 2009 final result. 

v Analysis of Psychology & Public Administration: CSE-2009:

All India Rank	Psychology	Public Administration
AIR – 01	350	343
AIR – 05	381	318
AIR – 07	328	347
AIR – 08	373	374
AIR – 09	362	353
AIR – 16	344	324
AIR – 18	316	349

TABLE: 01

TABLE 01: shows “07 CANDIDATES” Marks who were in TOP 20 in CSE-2009 with Psychology & Public Administration together.

Ø  Other Candidate’s Marks who were in TOP 50 with Psychology subject are:

All India Rank	Psychology
AIR – 02	360
AIR – 06	319
AIR – 13	341
AIR – 14	284
AIR – 21	348
AIR – 27	337
AIR – 28	357
AIR – 44	381

TABLE: 02

TABLE 02: shows “08 CANDIDATES” with Psychology subject who made to TOP 50 + TABLE 01: shows “07 CANDIDATES” who made to TOP 10, so altogether "15 CANDIDATES" made to TOP 50.

Ø  Other Candidate’s Marks who were in TOP 50 with Public Administration subject are:

  

All India Rank	Public Administration
AIR – 10	356
AIR – 22	379
AIR – 25	293
AIR – 26	324
AIR – 39	350
AIR – 40	373
AIR – 41	322
AIR – 42	355
AIR – 43	339
AIR – 45	317
AIR – 46	364
AIR – 49	335

TABLE: 03

TABLE 03: shows “12 CANDIDATES” with Public Administration subject who made to TOP 50 + TABLE 01: shows “07 CANDIDATES” who made to TOP 10,  so altogether "19 CANDIDATES" made to TOP 50.. 

CONCLUSION: you can choose both these subjects from scoring perspective without hesitation. So here comes Age old Wisdom: Psycho & Pub.ad are best for a newbie.

JKSSB SI Result 2022: Fraud, say aspirants as more than 20 siblings qualify JK Police Recruitment exam.

 

JKSSB SI Result 2022 has been released but questions are being raised. In a surprising turn of events, candidates are calling the JKSSB SI result 'fraud' as more than 20 siblings have qualified. Such a bizarre incident has made people raise questions on JK Police Recruitment exam.

Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board, Sub Inspector or JKSSB SI Result 2022 has been declared online on June 4, 2022. With the list of shortlisted candidates out, J&K Police Recruitment exam has come under the scanner for a very bizarre yet new experience. This time, in JKSSB SI Result, over 20 siblings  qualified for the police recruitment.

JKSSB SI Result 2022 is now being questioned as never before, such a thing has been seen. In the result analysis shared here, the marked colours show the names of 22 siblings shortlisted for J&K Police Recruitment. If one sees carefullt, one would notice that even the names of family members are same, raising questions on this bizarre phenomenon.

Adding to the chain of events to the JKSSB SI Result 2022, some aspirants have also called the JK Police Recruitment exam a 'fraud' and 'unfair.' Some have also taken to social media and demanded answers as to how such an incident occurred where so many siblings got selected together.

While questions continue to be raised on JKSSB SI Result 2022, the authorities have not come forward yet or said anything on the same. With the JK Police sarkari naukri recruitment still on, netizens have also taken this 'siblings issue' to social media, leading to both angry and funny discussions.

JKSSB SI Result 2022 was declared for the exam that was held for recruitment to 1200 posts of Sub Inspectors in the Jammu and Kashmir police under the Home Department, UT Cadre. As per reports, over 97,000 candidates appeared for this exam.

Russia Ukraine conflict: bring russia closer to china.

 

Between 1991 and 2014, Russia ramped up its global standing and emerged as a considerable military power. As Ukraine veered towards the West, Moscow grew increasingly concerned that its strategic interests in Crimea were being threatened. 

Increasing hostilities with Ukraine and the West is advantageous to Russia given the tattered relationship between the USA and its European allies, the domestic support for such an endeavour and Putin’s need for a popularity boost ahead of the 2024 Russian Presidential elections. But how do the Ukrainians perceive the current state of affairs, and what they are prepared to do in order to protect their national sovereignty?

Historic relations 

When the Soviet Union broke up in the early 1990s, Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic, had the third largest atomic arsenal in the world. Anticipating a friendly relationship with Moscow moving forward, Kyiv gave its considerable nuclear stockpile back to Russia in exchange for security guarantees that protected it from a potential Russian attack. At the time, Ukrainians had little to fear from Russia, especially given the fact that in a 1991 referendum, more than 83 per cent of Donbas residents and 54 per cent of Crimea residents voted to have Ukraine secede from the USSR. Even Russian speaking Ukrainians overwhelmingly supported Ukraine’s independence and following years of military and economic decline during the Cold War, Russia seemed to be a toothless power on the international stage.

However, between then and 2014, Russia ramped up its global standing and emerged as a considerable military power once again. As Ukraine veered towards the West, Moscow grew increasingly concerned that its strategic interests in Crimea were being threatened. 

In 2014, Kremlin-leaning Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych rejected an association with the European Union (EU) in favour of closer ties with Moscow. This resulted in a series of protests across Ukraine, ending with Yanukovych’s removal from power the same year. Russia in turn responded by annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and throwing its weight behind a separatist rebellion that broke out in eastern Ukraine. 

Immediately after the annexation, Ukraine seemed to have the upper hand. In response, Russia was forced to send a large part of its regular troops to Donbas in eastern Ukraine, succeeding in causing huge casualties on the Ukrainian side but ultimately failing to capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In a show of compromise, Ukraine and Russia adopted the Minsk Agreements in 2015 which stipulated that Russia must remove all its troops and machinery from Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv agreeing to hold special elections in Donbas. According to Ukrainian journalist, Olya Vorozhbyt, who spoke with some news agency, Ukraine has held up its side of the bargain, even though Russia has not. “The Minsk agreements established a ceasefire,” Vorozhbyt notes, and “while Ukrainian soldiers have defended themselves, they haven’t actively attacked Russian soldiers or separatists.

Conversely, Russia continued to adopt a series of unconventional tactics against Ukraine including cyber-attacks, funding and arming irregular militias, and spreading mass disinformation. Russia also installed puppet governments in Donetsk and Luhansk, creating military dictatorships in the occupied territories which were initially run by Russian citizens. Over time, the Kremlin began to change the narrative of the conflict, framing it as a Ukrainian civil war that Russia was involved in simply as a mediator. Ukrainians have staunchly rejected this notion. Vorozhbyt stresses that the conflict was between Ukraine and Russia and not nationalists and separatists. 

Russia’s rationale behind supporting so-called Ukrainian separatists is bellied by its claim that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Putin has depicted Ukraine as the “holy Rus”, the birthplace and antecedent of the Russian state. In his writings in 2014 and 2021, Putin argued that Russians and Ukrainians were not just fraternal peoples, but one, single, united people, part of the same civilisation. This claim stems from the fact that in the late 18th century, Russia incorporated Crimea and the lands of the Black Sea region, which collectively came to be known as Novorossiya or New Russia.

However, Russians and Ukrainians have lived apart longer than they have lived together and, in a poll, conducted in 2021, 70 per cent of Ukrainians disagreed with the ‘one people’ claim. A report from the Brookings Institute further argues that Ukraine was a colony of Russia, much like India and America once were of the British. The fact that many Ukrainians speak Russian and parts of Ukrainian territory were incorporated into the Russian Empire is therefore “irrelevant” akin to any claim that the Brits may have over America due to their shared cultural similarities. However, the devils in the margins, and even with limited Ukrainian support, Russia can point to the interests of the few Russian ‘citizens’ in eastern Ukraine as justification for its involvement in the conflict.

Since 2014, over 14,000 people have been killed in the Donbas and an additional 1.4 million residents internally displaced, with approximately 75,000 of them fleeing to Russia.

Security Threat

Russia has gathered as many as 130,000 troops along different parts of the Ukrainian border with 30,000 troops stationed in Belarus (near Kyiv) alone. The Kremlin seems to be making all the preparations for war, including moving military equipment, medial units and blood to the front lines. Diplomatic talks between Russia and the West have thus far not yielded any solutions. Putin has issued a series of demands on Ukraine and NATO ranging from the removal of NATO forces in Eastern Europe, a guarantee that Ukraine will not be allowed to join the alliance, the granting of autonomy to the Donbas and a recognition that the conflict in Ukraine is a civil war. Those demands have been hotly rejected by all parties involved.

That brings us to the situation today and how it may escalate in the coming months. There are three main theories surrounding this debate. The first is that Russia will continue to destabilise eastern Ukraine without sending additional troops into the country. The second is that Russia may make a play for the Donbas, thus establishing a corridor between Russia and Crimea (and by extension, the strategically significant port of Sevastopol.) The third, and most concerning scenario, is that Russia may wage an all-out offence against Ukraine, including taking Kyiv and subsequently occupying the entire country. 

If Russia pursues the first option, much like it has done in Azerbaijan and Georgia, Moscow could continue exerting its influence in Ukraine while prima facie denying its involvement in the conflict. Russia has already issued almost 200,000 passports to Ukrainians in the Donbas in a bid to exert pressure on Kyiv to grant the region autonomy. This would succeed in hurting Ukraine without occupying it and mitigate the risk of a full-blown conflict. Given that Ukraine is as large and populous as Afghanistan with over 300,000 people who have some form of military experience, the Kremlin may look to the past and determine that occupation is not the best route forward. Continuing to issue passports in the Donbas, while covertly supporting the separatist movement, would meet Russian foreign policy objectives while sparing Moscow from much needed international accountability. Vorozhbyt doubts the efficacy of such a strategy however, pointing to the fact that Ukrainians want to have both Crimea and the Donbas returned to them as a matter of state sovereignty. Whether or not they could contend with Russia’s asymmetrical tactics of warfare or amass the support of Western allies in doing so, is yet to be determined.  

Another scenario is that Russia might seek to establish a land corridor to Crimea, by seizing 300km of territory along the Sea of Azov. To do so would require imposing massive costs on the government in Kiev including decimating its armed forces and destroying critical infrastructure. Russia could do this with or without placing troops on the ground. Similar to NATO’s airstrikes against Serbia in 1999, Russia could conceivably wage a “stand-off” war against Ukraine, using rocket launchers and cyber-attacks to undermine Ukrainian resistance.

A full-on invasion of Ukraine would be something Europe hasn’t seen in decades. Russia has amassed troops alongside Ukraine’s eastern border and more concerningly, has placed 30,000 troops in Belarus under the guise of routine military exercises. Were those troops to advance, Putin could take Donbas in the east and launch an attack on Kyiv in the west from Belarus. The US has estimated that such an attack would result in a civilian death toll exceeding 50,000.

(Indian Express)

However, Ukrainians have indicated that they would not take such hostility sitting down. A December survey by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology (KIS) found that 33.3 per cent of Ukrainians would put up armed resistance if Russia started large-scale military actions while a further 21.7 per cent said that they would participate in civil resistance in the form of protests, strikes and demonstrations. In January, the Ukrainian parliament wrote a law for national resistance, according to which, people across the country will be trained to resist Russian aggression. Russian occupation would thus encounter the sort of insurgency that the Russian military was unable to subdue in both Afghanistan and Chechnya, despite the brutality inflicted in both regions.

(indian Express)

What is the likelihood of war?

In January 2022, the College of William and Mary, in association with the University of Denver, asked 362 International Relations scholars for their views on the Russia Ukraine crisis. The respondents expect Russia to use military force in Ukraine by a 3-1 margin, although many experts expressed uncertainty. When asked if Russia would use military force in the next year, 56 per cent of scholars said yes, and only 20 per cent said no. These assumptions have some basis in Russian popular opinion. For the past eight years, Russian public support for the Crimean takeover has hovered between 84 and 86 per cent. Another recent survey shows that 50 per cent of Russians blame the US and NATO for escalating tensions, while only 4 per cent blame the Kremlin. Moreover, two US officials have said that Russia has in place 70 per cent of the combat power it would need to occupy Ukraine.

That being said, only 25 per cent of Russians support the incorporation of the Donbas into Russia, while 26 per cent believe that the contested republics should remain within Ukraine. A report by the Critical Threats Project of the American Enterprise Institute, together with the Institute for the Study of War also argues against the probability of a Russian invasion, insisting that the economic costs of such an endeavour would be more than the Kremlin is able to sustain. The report states that “Putin may be attempting a strategic misdirection that impales the West in a diplomatic process and military planning cycle that will keep it unprepared,” thus destabilising the country and dividing NATO without directly invading Ukraine. According to a recent KIS study, a slim majority of Ukrainians agree with this assessment. It found that only 48 per cent of Ukrainians believe that Russia will attack, however another poll by the Ramzukov Center in Ukraine, found that 71 per cent of Ukrainians think the country is already at war with Russia.

Another deterrent to war is how much Russia would struggle to retain the occupied territories. According to Vorozhbyt, “while perceptions of Russians by Ukrainians was quite high before 2014, when the aggression in Donbas started and Russia annexed Crimea, attitudes towards the Kremlin changed.” Since the outbreak of hostilities, Putin and his allies have repeatedly depicted Ukraine as a brotherly nation that has fallen under the control of extremist elements and foreign control. However, recent polling from the Ukranian Ratings Institute indicates that 72 per cent of Ukrainians consider Russia to be a “hostile state.” Even in separatist held parts of the Donbas, 55 per cent of respondents expressed a preference for being part of the Ukrainian state. In Donetsk and Luhansk, 65 per cent of residents wanted to see the Donbas reintegrated into Ukraine.

This change in perceptions is significant argues Vorozhbyt. Pointing to huge rallies in Russian speaking areas of Ukraine, she states that “even people who weren’t interested in politics are now more patriotic and anti-Russia,” a trend that is likely to continue. “The more aggressive Russia is, the more resistance Putin faces,” she adds.

This resistance holds firm from the top to the bottom. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky is adamantly opposed to Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine and his stance is validated by his landslide victory in 2019, winning the election with 73 per cent of the vote. It is noteworthy that Zelensky also won all of the constituencies in eastern Ukraine, despite the pro-Russian candidate initially having the upper hand. Leading Ukrainian newspapers are also resolute in their opposition to Russia, with one comparing the West’s inaction in Ukraine to the disastrous policy of appeasement pursued by UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin in response to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia.

Speaking about the West, its role will also prove important. The EU and America have tolerated Russian aggression in Ukraine in the past but have seemingly drawn a red line against any escalations that would involve a direct attack.

Ukrainian allies

Moscow has demanded that no former Soviet states be allowed to join NATO and has accused the West of flooding Ukraine with weapons and stoking tensions in the region. While Russia does have some legitimate security concerns, given that NATO was formed as an anti-Russian alliance, upon observation, the Kremlin’s claims seem unsubstantiated. Only five NATO countries neighbour Russia accounting for under 6 per cent of its total borders. Furthermore, European military spending has declined over the last few decades, relative to Russia and for its part, NATO has repeatedly declined calls for Ukrainian membership.

A December 2021 KIS survey found that 67 per cent of Ukrainians wanted to join the EU while 59 per cent want to join NATO. Three years ago, Ukraine even changed its constitution to include a pathway to those organisations as a part of the country’s future development. However, despite public support, Ukraine doesn’t seem likely to join NATO anytime soon. This view has been reiterated by the alliance and by President Biden, with both claiming that Ukraine must root out corruption and meet other development goals before it is considered for membership. This puts Kyiv in a tricky situation. By applying for NATO, it has annoyed Russia and now faces a hostile and powerful neighbour without any protections from the alliance.

Individual countries have pledged their assistance though, and if they maintain their current positions, it seems likely that Putin will have to account for Western support in any calculus for an invasion. In a press conference, Biden warned that “Russia will pay a heavy price” if it chooses to invade Ukraine. His administration has already approved an additional USD200 million in defensive military aid to Ukraine, in addition to the USD450 million provided in the last fiscal year. Earlier this month, Biden directed the Pentagon to deploy more than 3000 American troops to bolster the defence of European allies.

However, only 15 per cent of American voters support troops being deployed to Ukraine, and therefore, the likelihood is that Washington will continue to provide monetary support and impose sanctions on the Russian economy, but will stop short of an active military involvement. Vorozhbyt believes that may be enough. She says that “the main thing that Ukraine needs from the West is more weapons, more sanctions and vocal public support.”

European nations have responded to Ukraine’s calls for assistance in various ways. In January, Britain began airlifting thousands of antitank missiles to Ukraine. Days before, Sweden rushed armoured vehicles to the island of Gotland. The BBC has also reported that Spain is sending warships to join NATO’s naval forces in the Mediterranean and Black Sea while French President Emmanuel Macron has offered to send troops to Romania. However, Germany, arguably the strongest European nation, has remained notably subdued. This is likely due to its reliance on Russian natural gas.

Vorozhbyt decries that Russia constantly uses gas as a weapon, alleging that German politicians like former Chancellor Schroder, have been “bought by Russia” due to their dealing with Russia’s largest energy company Gazprom (of which Schroder is a board member.) Reserving a significant amount of the blame on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, she asserts that “there is enough capacity to transport gas without Nord Stream 2, which is transparently a way to reroute gas transportation systems to bypass Ukraine.” Another Ukrainian publication argued that the Germans are literally financing Russia’s war on Ukraine, pointing to the fact that Russia’s foreign gas sales totalled USD54 billion in 2021, while its defence budget was USD62 billion.

Even though Russia has bolstered its economy against Western sanctions, halting the Nord Stream 2 project would have severe ramifications for its economy. While German politicians have muddied around the issue in the past, stating that the pipeline is private sector project, separate from Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seemed to change his tune after meeting Biden at the White House this month. “If Russia invades…there will no longer (be) a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said during a joint press conference with Scholz. Asked specifically whether Germany was prepared to pull the plug on the pipeline, the Chancellor said, “we are absolutely united

According to Vorozhbyt, Ukraine is prepared for any and all eventualities. “My friends in Kyiv are packing their bags,” she says. “People are going to restaurants and cafes but over the weekend, they are training to fight against an invasion.” Vorozhbyt echoes what seems to be the public sentiment in Ukraine at the moment, stating that “people are calm, but they are also preparing for resistance and will not accept any more infringements upon the sovereignty of Ukraine.”