You're reading: The World Outline: Can Ukraine resist Putin’s pull?

After the unfortunate case of Serga the tiger, a zoo-dwelling animal released in public and shot with one too many tranquilizer darts by the Russian President himself in a state-run publicity stunt, it now appears that Russia’s neighbour, Ukraine, has entered Putin’s sights.

Ukraine, roughly the size of Texas and situated between Russia and the EU, is quite literally a bridge between East and West and the strategic value of the country, referred to as the ‘bread basket of Europe’ for its prosperous wheat fields, is hardly lost on the Kremlin. 70% of all gas shipped from Russia to the EU flows through Ukrainian pipelines and both the United States and the Russian Federation have been attempting to secure a military presence on Ukrainian territory.

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