Crimea is a peninsula along the northern coast of the Black Sea in Eastern Europe. It has a population of 2.4 million, made up mostly of ethnic Russians with significant Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar communities. The Russo-Ukrainian War is the ongoing and protracted conflict that started in February 2014, primarily involving Russia and pro-Russian forces on one hand, and Ukraine on the other. The conflict centered on the status of Crimea and parts of Donbas, which are largely internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. When Ukrainians deposed their pro-Russian president in early 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimean peninsula and backed separatists who captured large swathes of eastern Ukraine. The rebels have fought the Ukrainian military ever since in a conflict that has claimed more than 14,000 lives.

Ukraine shares borders with both the European Union (EU) and Russia. Russia has long resisted Ukraine's move towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a defensive alliance of 30 countries.

Russia appears to be making all the preparations for war: moving more military equipment, medical units, even blood, to the front lines. Against this backdrop, diplomatic talks between Russia and the United States and its allies have not yielded any solutions. Ukraine is the fourth-largest recipient of military funding from the US, and the intelligence cooperation between the two countries has deepened in response to threats from Russia.

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