By Brittany McAlister
Trinity Times Correspondent

Trinity Washington University freshman Daniela FloresVillatoro has been following developments in the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, but the violence in Gaza and the pro-Palestinian protests erupting on U.S. college campuses has captured her attention.

Though FloresVillatoro believes peace should be sought in all international conflicts, she told Trinity Times she senses people in the U.S. have moved on from Ukraine because the war there has been going on for several years now. 

“Plus, the violence there is less exposed to the world unlike what’s going on in Gaza right now,” she said. “Theviolence in Gaza is more brutal and can be seen on social media unlike Ukraine.”

While U.S. officials have estimated the loss of life in the Ukrainian conflict to be more than 200,000, most of those deaths are Russian and Ukraine troops. Meaning the estimated 30,000 plus of Gaza civilians killed exceeds the 10,000 plus civilian casualties in Ukraine.

FloresVillatoro isn’t alone among U.S. college age students who are more focused on Gaza compared to the Ukrainian conflict, even though a recent Pew Research Center poll found that nearly the same percentage of Americans view the conflicts in Ukraine, Israel-Gaza and China-Taiwan as important to U.S. national interests.

As student protests of U.S. support of Israel in the war in Gaza have embroiled dozens of U.S. college campuses, the war in Ukraine hasn’t become a forgotten topic for Trinity students like Camille Rasamoely, who was relieved when the U.S. Congress finally approved that $61 billion Ukraine military aid package that had been held up for months in partisan squabbles.

“Thousands of people are dying, and it’s only getting worse,” Rasamoely said. “Ukraine is continuing to fall apart, and we sadly see it on the news every day. So, it’s definitely not being forgotten. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is becoming unstoppable, and it’s very worrisome.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 25, 2022, marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the two neighboring countries. 

This act of aggression by the Russian government has further destabilized the region and intensified tensionsbetween Russia and the international community, according to the United Nations.

The roots of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine can be traced back to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which led to the independence of Ukraine and the emergence of a new geopolitical landscape in Eastern Europe.

Since then, Russia has sought to exert its influence over its former satellite states, including Ukraine, through various means, such as economic pressure, propaganda, and military intervention.

There was overwhelming American support for U.S. aid to Ukraine in the early months after the Russian invasion, but that support began to erode among Republicans in 2023 and former President Donald Trump urged GOP congressional leaders not to support more funding for the war effort.

“The ($61 billion aid) package was hung up in Congress by rightwing politicians who seem to want Ukraine to lose its war with Russia,” said Trinity President Patricia McGuire. “The U.S. has not abandoned Ukraine, and more sensible lawmakers – and on both sides of the aisle – finally broke through the gridlock to get results.”

The partisan divide in U.S. politics concerning the Russian-Ukraine war has been mystifying to McGuire, who believes the geopolitical consequences for a collapsed Ukraine are grave for the world and U.S. national interests. 

“Why certain politicians want Ukraine to fail is impossible to understand,” she said. “Some people say thatpeople like (Georgia Republican) Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene are in league with Vladimir Putin, but I think that’s giving her entirely too much credit. 

“I think the explanation is simpler,” McGuire said. “Some politicians do not have the intellectual power or moral center to address critical global issues coherently, and instead, they make everything a partisan politicalissue to curry favor with their ‘base’ of voters. It’s not about the issues at stake for Ukraine, but rather, whetherhaving an obtuse position on the issue will win votes in the next election. Sad but true, and the consequencesare devastating for the people of Ukraine who have suffered so much hardship and violence while waiting for more U.S. aid.” 

The United Nations said the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 was a turning point in the conflict, as it demonstrated Russia’s willingness to use force to achieve its territorial and strategic goals in the region. 

The international community condemned the annexation as a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and imposed sanctions on Russia in response.

Despite these measures, the conflict continued to simmer, with sporadic fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. 

The situation took a dramatic turn on Feb. 25, 2022, when Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, crossing the border from multiple directions and targeting key cities and infrastructure.

“I have been following the war in Ukraine since it first started a few years ago and there have not been anyvideos of children crying, buildings crumbling to the ground, and civilians being beaten to death in Ukraine,” FloresVillatoro said.

In fact, the human death toll and misery was horrifically detailed in the Oscar winning 2023 documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” which showcased the civilian casualties of all ages in the Ukrainian war, the crumbling of buildings, the digging of mass graves and the bombing of a maternity hospital.

However, the social media feeds many U.S. college students follow show more of the Gaza war devastation than what is happening in Ukraine.

In addition to the social media factor, Trinity Global Affairs Professor Joshua Wright said the Ukraine conflict has been around longer than the war in Gaza, forcing many to shift their focus.

“We have this situation with Israel and Palestine and now we’re talking about Iran sending out drones,” Wright said. “So, our focus has shifted, which it often does when we talk about these geopolitical issues.

“We are really focused on one issue for a set period of time,” he said, “and then after so long, we move on to the next thing.”

It’s also easy for people to lose hope for a cause when it has been going on for years, Wright said.

“For the average American citizen who’s not really political, and especially if they’re not up on these international issues, or if they don’t have family members from Ukraine,” he said, “for the average citizen in America, it’s easy for them to lose interest or say, ‘well.'”

However, Wright said he has continued to stress to his students the geopolitical importance of a stable Ukrainian state free of Russian dominance.

“So, I don’t think we want to just let Ukraine fall,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t want to get bogged down in awar where we’re going to be there or we’re going to be supporting them for the next decade or more because we’ve seen what that looks like” in Afghanistan and Vietnam.

“Obviously, at some point, we will have to allow them to just handle this on their own,” Wright said. “But I don’t think we’ve reached that point just yet within two years.”

There also seems to be an exhaustion factor about Ukraine for many college-age students, said Trinity sophomore JayLynn Pope, an Occupational Therapy Assistant major.

“You still hear about the war in Ukraine,” Pope said, “but the world is no longer focused on Ukraine because of the Israel-Gaza conflict.”

And while Trinity student Deborah Sawyerr believes peace negotiators should be focusing on the global implications of all these conflicts, it’s her fear that Ukraine may be thought of as a lost cause.

“The war in Ukraine has been going on for almost three years now and no one talks about it anymore,” Sawyerr said. “It shouldn’t be forgotten.” 

Nor should diplomatic efforts be abandoned, Wright said.”The international community must work together to support Ukraine in its efforts to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said, “and to hold Russia accountable for its actions.”