The Russian invasion of Ukraine has reached a number of serious turning points in recent days, and it has social media users beginning to fret.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a sham order of annexation for 4 regions in Ukraine, some of which his troops aren’t even fully in control of. The move was largely blasted by the international community with the United States even going so far as to suggest that the new borders simply wouldn’t be recognized by global authorities.
In response, Ukraine’s President accelerated his nation’s potential joining of NATO – a move that, if successful, could bring the western world into Putin’s horrid war.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed large swathes of Ukraine on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded by saying his country had applied to join NATO. “We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Of course, there could be some obstacles still in the way.
Any application would require the unanimous support of the military alliance’s 30 member nations. Russia has previously threatened to retaliate against any countries that join NATO, accusing the alliance of waging a proxy war against Russia on behalf of the West.
Putin suggested after the annexation that Ukraine should come to the table for peace talks, something that Zelenskyy believes could only occur between he and a different Russian President.
NATO’s charter states that an attack on any member nation would be met with a response from NATO’s own coalition fighting force – a move that could put western troops on the ground in Ukraine. This realization caused “WWIII” to trend on Twitter on Friday morning.
