After weeks on alert, this Thursday Vladimir Putin has given the order to invade Ukraine.
Several cities in eastern Ukraine, from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk to Kharkov, 30 kilometers from the border, have been attacked.
The first images of chaos begin to be seen and the first deaths are counted.
Faced with this situation, the Ukrainian population living in the areas closest to the places where the offensive is taking place have left their homes with some belongings to move to other parts of the country.
In the video that accompanies this news, two experts offer their different views on the reasons that have led the Russian president to attack Ukraine.
Pedro Rodríguez, Associate Professor of International Relations at Comillas Pontifical University, believes that Putin's real intentions have nothing to do with NATO or Russia's security, but rather with "the possibility of Ukraine becoming an independent democracy ”.
A position that would not be limited to this country: “Russia, in recent years, has done everything possible to discredit all the democracies around it.
In the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Spain...”.
On the other hand, Mira Milosevich, principal investigator at the Elcano Royal Institute, believes that Putin will go "wherever necessary to meet his objectives."
For this specialist in the region, Russia has been putting the survival of the country before its prosperity for centuries.
"They have prepared for sanctions, they live in war mode since 2014."
Rodríguez, however, believes that “Putin operates on a graph with two functions: maximum aggression at the minimum possible cost.
It is clear that for him the sanctions anticipated, agreed upon and announced so far are not enough of a deterrent”.
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