Russia Is Hinting At A Ukraine Invasion & Here's Why 'World War III' Is Trending

Russia is hinting at moving into Ukraine, world leaders are talking tough and Google searches for "World War III" have spiked this week, so you might say things are tense in eastern Europe.

The whole standoff revolves around Ukraine, a former Soviet state that Russia says it's not going to invade, even though it's lined up 100,000 troops along the border.

Here's what you need to know about the whole mess in a nutshell, because it could get even messier if someone doesn't back down very soon.

Russia & Ukraine go way back

Ukraine used be part of the Soviet Union, a.k.a. the Communist country that collapsed and turned into Russia in 1991. Ukraine and several other former Soviet states became their own countries at the time, but Russia hasn't forgotten what it once had.

Ukraine has a big chunk of the former Soviet Union's population, and it was also a major industrial, agricultural and military producer, according to a report by the Council of Foreign Relations. Some of Ukraine's population still feels culturally tied to Russia, although the government has been leaning more toward the West in recent years, especially as Russia has become more aggressive toward it, according to the New York Times.

The last time things got really bad between these two countries was in 2014, when Russia took over a chunk of Ukraine called Crimea during an armed conflict. That was the first time since World War II that one country had annexed part of another.

And Russia doesn't seem like it wants to stop there. In July of 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote about his desire to absorb Ukraine in a press release.

"I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia. Together we have always been and will be many times stronger and more successful. For we are one people," said Putin.

Why Russia is threatening Ukraine

Ukraine has been trying to align closely with institutions like the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a way to seek protection from Russia.

Members of NATO promise to defend each other if one of them is attacked, so that kind of protection would be great for Ukraine — although it could draw many other countries into a major war with Russia, according to The Washington Post.

That's likely why Google search traffic for "World War III" has surged this week, although NATO hasn't accepted Ukraine and the chances of a world war are slim, experts told the BBC.

Russia has always been vocal about its opposition to Ukraine joining NATO, and that's only gotten stronger over the years, the New York Times reports.

During NATO's 2008 summit, Russian President Putin even warned that if Ukraine joined NATO, he would treat it as "a hostile act toward Russia."

If Ukraine joins NATO and then gets attacked, all other members of the treaty would come after Russia, which is exactly what Russia doesn't want happening, according to The Washington Post. Many NATO members, including the U.S. and Canada, also don't want to get sucked into a war with Russia. That's why they haven't accepted Ukraine as a member or promised to defend it from invasion.

So now we're left with Russia lining up 100,000 of its troops along the Ukrainian border, and Western leaders warning Putin not to go any farther — although they're not ready to fully commit to defending Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia has been warning the West not to get any more involved with Ukraine.

"Russia is looking for excuses or reasons to continue and even escalate its aggression against Ukraine,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week, according to Global News.

Putin has said that Russia is just carrying out military exercises, but Ukraine and other Western countries are not buying it.

Talks are are underway to calm the whole thing down, although it's unclear if or when they'll work.

However, Ukraine sounded optimistic about resolving the situation on Tuesday.

"Don't worry, sleep well," Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Ukrainian lawmakers. He added that right now there are "no grounds to believe" that Russia is about to invade.

"No need to have your bags packed," he said, according to the Associated Press.