Ever since Russia’s attack on Ukraine on Feb. 24, tensions have escalated. There has been a loss of market access, a drastic drop in public revenues, and many countless lives lost leaving the rest of the country in danger. Due to all of this, the United States contributes $4.5 billion to support Ukraine.

 An exchange of rockets occurred over Ukrainian skies on Nov. 15 when Russia led 100 missile strikes toward military targets and civilian areas in Western Ukraine. In response, Ukraine used its air defense missiles, resulting in around 70 of the Russian missiles being shot down and one Ukrainian woman being killed due to a missile landing in a residential area. 

One of those rockets left their sight and landed in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) territory. The missile crashed just inside the Poland border in a rural village called Przewodow, just a few miles from the western border of Ukraine and killed two Polish citizens.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainian news outlets that Ukraine would participate in this investigation.

 “I want us to be fair, and if it was the use of our air defense, then I want that evidence,” Zelenskyy said.

After further investigations by NATO, many factors indicate that it was a missile used by Ukraine’s anti-missile defense. On the following day of the occurrence, both the United States and Polish leaders indicated that the missile was not likely to have been fired by Russia. President Biden joined in with the other Western leaders and said that it could instead have been the result of an attempted interception of a Russian attack. Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, agreed with the indication but that “Russia bears responsibility for what happened in Poland yesterday,” since it was a direct result of an attack on Ukraine.

Most southern Ukrainian cities are left without any electrical power due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure facilities. The biggest wave of missiles yet seen ever since Nov. 23 was on Dec. 5. Russia’s forces have been targeting Ukraine’s energy and its nation’s infrastructure, leaving nearly half of its energy grid in shambles. As a cold and long winter settles in, Russia casts Ukrainian cities into the dark. Ukrainian power engineers work for days in the freezing weather in an attempt to restore power.

The European Council had agreed on financial assistance designated to help Ukraine through 2023. This package was proposed on Dec. 10 and aims to enable the European Union to financially support Ukraine. This agreement provides a structural solution for Ukraine in 2023, consisting of 18 billion euros with a 10-year grace period. This targets short-term financial relief, financing Ukraine’s immediate needs, rebuilding critical infrastructure, and support for post-war reconstruction.