On the 24th February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full scale military invasion of Ukraine. This is the latest development following years of tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and a civil war between the Ukrainian government and Russian backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance consisting numerous European nations as well as the US and Canada. It was established during the cold war to counter the influence of the Soviet Union, and has remained up until today. Ukraine is not currently a member state of NATO, despite requests by the Ukrainian government for membership. Together with other countries, NATO is providing military support, weapons and funding to the Ukrainian government in response to Putin's aggression, as well as slapping the heaviest set of sanctions seen so far on Russia, but so far has yet to commit troops to defending Ukraine