That means anything with petroleum in it, such as gas, clothes, tires, even soap, is going to slow down in production, hence causing prices to rise.

(Featured photo: OCCC Business and Economics Professor Charles Myrick – Courtesy photo)

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is history in the making. This can be recalled all the way back to 1991, when the region of Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union. 

According to BBC News, Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, ordered this “special military operation” to neutralize Ukraine armies and replace them with their own navy. All because Ukraine considered joining NATO.

In retrospect, Putin saw “the fall of the Soviet as the disintegration of historical Russia”. 

The invasion has caused more than 3 million Ukrainian civilians to flee the country. Even though the United States isn’t physically involved with this war, it has still affected daily life, even in other countries. 

Business and Economics Professor Charles Myrick provides his knowledge on the economics involved in the conflict. 

“Russia was a major supplier of a lot of petroleum products…now that we are boycotting them, that’s going to cause our nation’s supply of petroleum products to rise,” he said. 

That means anything with petroleum in it, such as gas, clothes, tires, even soap, is going to slow down in production, hence causing prices to rise. 

In theory, if Russia were successful in completely raiding Ukraine, it would do less good for the Russian economy. Their actions have caused tension and have caused them to lose connections with certain countries. 

Myrick theorizes that “he might try to then take over one of the other countries that he has his eye on, that used to be part of the USSR that maybe is thinking about joining NATO.”

“More sanctions are probably going against Russia, which would then hurt the Russian economy even more, which then may cause Russia to become even more desperate…if a person starts suffering a lot, they can become even more desperate. And then they might start doing even more dangerous things,” Myrick said. 

It seems simple to tell Putin to stop, or to just invade them as they did Ukraine, but in reality, Russia is way too powerful as of right now. They continue to threaten any and every country that considers intervening. It’s likely that any threat to Russia can bring nuclear warfare to the nations. 

“It seems like maybe Ukraine will be successful in defending themselves,” Myrick said. 

Myrick added that with “around 12,000 Russian troops” dying from warfare, it shows that Ukraine is still standing their ground.”

“[I]t seems like everyone’s scared of using the nuclear weapons…just because they’re so powerful…the Russian soldiers are dying at a very large rate,” Myrick said. 

Death is not the most exciting thing to hear about, but Ukraine is able to maintain high spirits in hopes of peace. 

Hopefully, Russia will calm down a bit. Myrick agrees. 

“I’m hoping that Russia will stop their aggression. And then I’m hoping then that the economic sanctions could be lifted against them and so their people won’t suffer from them anymore,” he says. 

As the war continues to unfold, the people continue to pray for peace.