Vladimir Putin, current President of Russia, began the full invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Refugees and citizens of Ukraine have been posting their experiences on social media apps, including TikTok, where their videos have reached millions of people around the world. People are getting front-row seats to what war is really like to live through. It’s hard see and believe what people are experiencing.

“I feel like it was an unnecessary reason for starting the war, and that Russia needs to stop,” junior Madison Boerger said.

“It’s very surreal. I’m aware of it happening, you know, it’s like, an actual event that I am living through,” junior Ava Atha said.

People are left wondering if the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will get involved in the war. NATO was designed to protect the freedom and security of Allied Nations. Ukraine at this time is not an official member of NATO- if they were a member, we would be looking at WWIII.

The idea when NATO was originally created was that if Russia – or anyone not already a member- were to attack a NATO nation, the alliance would unite and take on the nation they attacked along with every other nation in the organization. Considering Russia did not attack a member of NATO, they were not originally faced up against the nations of NATO. This is why people question if the United States will give any aid at all to Ukraine in their time of need.

“I don’t think NATO should get involved unless an ally country has been affected. NATO is very strict to the rules,” Boerger said.

Boerger went on to explain that if any rules are broken within NATO, it could cause an even greater war- possibly WWIII.

“I think, in terms of support for the country, yes, they should [get involved], but I don’t think military support is gonna help at all… we don’t want Russia to end up attacking someone else, so I think we should minimize collateral damage, and mostly [save] people’s lives. No-one in the world is gonna want WWIII, and Russia is aware of that. I don’t think [Russia] is really gonna try to get to that point,” Atha said.

In regards to whether or not they should get involved, the direct answer is still somewhat uncertain. An emergency NATO summit was called about the invasion, where they addressed the situation in Ukraine and in the other countries where Russia has recently invaded. They essentially warned Russia to stop the invasion.

“In accordance with its international commitments, we call on Russia to withdraw the forces it has stationed in all three countries without their consent. We strongly condemn and will not recognise Russia’s illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea, and denounce its temporary occupation,” (Brussels Summit Communiqué, official NATO report, section 14). As the quote suggests, Russia has also illegally invaded two other smaller countries in the past.

As much as it seems like NATO should get involved, there could be dire consequences. If they got involved it would make the war much bigger and involve a lot more countries. This essentially could result in WWIII, and considering the major threat of atomic and nuclear weapons of Russia, US, UK, France and China, it is not a good idea to provoke any kind of larger war. As of right now, it looks like Ukraine has the upper hand in the war anyway- NATO estimated that Russia has lost between 7,000 and 15,000 soldiers, and Ukraine has lost at least 3,000.

NATO is helping Ukraine, but not by directly harming Russia. They have been answering their requests for assistance in the delivery of humanitarian and non-lethal aid. This includes water, food, clothing, etc. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla Motors), sent Starlink satellite internet dishes to Ukraine, according to CNBC News.

This is about all NATO should do for now- at least, unless Russia were to expand their invasion into a NATO nation, like Romania or Poland. Right now, it looks as if Ukraine is currently winning the war, so it is unlikely Russa will continue their invasion anywhere else – at least for now.