COLUMBUS – Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging war with Ukraine and threatening the west if nations interfere. Steven Miner, PhD, a specialist in eastern European history and professor at Ohio Univeristy, spoke about the situation.

What You Need To Know

  • Russia launched an attack on Ukraine on Thursday morning after the country's president, Vladimir Putin, ordered a "special military operation"

  • Steven Miner, PhD is a history professor at Ohio University.    

  • Miner discussed Putin's possible motives for attacking its neighbor

“Well, he's obviously threatening the use of nuclear weapons and also his new generation of hypersonic missiles that he's made a great deal about," Miner said. "He's saying leave us alone or if you don't, will resort to the nuclear option. He's threatening the United States' homeland. He said you'll have consequences you've never experienced in your history, in your country's history."

Miner said Putin made a three-point promise.

"One is that the United States, since the end of the Cold War, has pushed its own power and authority right up to the edge and actually into the former Soviet Union," said Miner. "The second is, based on the Second World War, that the Soviet Union itself won the Second World War and helped to set up a postwar security structure that he says is now being violated. And third, he says that in the lead up to the Second World War, the Soviet Union ignored the growing threat and didn't preemptively act to forestall the threat.

"And as a result, was invaded and suffered millions of casualties. He says he will not make that mistake. So it's a historical argument. And this is a preemptive war, not just against Ukraine, but against the United States and against the order that he sees as created by the United States."

Miner also spoke with Spectrum News 1 anchor Curtis Jackson in the latest episode of the Dear Ohio podcast, prior to Thursday's events.

For the latest information on the crisis in Ukraine, click here.