East, West, Ukraine

The conflict in Ukraine remains unresolved. The ceasefire can be described as fragile at best, illusive being a more accurate term. With no political solution in sight, the conflict remains an open wound in the continuously deteriorating East-West relationship. While global attention has been shifting elsewhere in recent years, this analysis revisits the now simmering crisis by deconstructing the two prevailing narratives, which depict the Ukrainian crisis as either caused by Russian aggression or as a consequence of Western interference, and instead applying the analytical frame of geopolitics. This allows for placing the conflict in the context of the current dynamic within the global political system, which is increasingly shaped by tensions and power struggles between the West and re-emerging powers such as Russia and China, and thereby leads to a better understanding of both, the conflict in Ukraine and the current dynamic in global politics. It is demonstrated that the escalation of the situation in Ukraine was the direct result of the country's position as a vital part of the strategic constellation between Russia and the West.