I will be putting up information on energy and Ukrainian issues.

This will take time.

Note that methane only blocks the infrared radiation that water vapor already almost completely blocks.

Note the 4.3um and 14.9um CO2 absorption bands. However, the amount of possibly planet warming 4,3um infrared radiation is fundamentally insignificant. The 14.9um CO2 absorption band can only have a very, very modest future additional effect (at its shorter end).

Fundamental science tells us that we have no need to fear either burping cows or CO2-emitting motor vehicles.

OZONE

“The principal natural greenhouse gases in order of their importance are water vapor H2O, carbon dioxide CO2, ozone O3, methane CH4 and nitrous oxide N2O. The concentration of the least common of these, N2O, is about 400 ppbV. Other gases which contribute to the greenhouse effect are present at pptV levels. These include the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluororcarbons (HFC and HCFCs). As discussed below, a major reason that they are so effective as greenhouse gases is that they have strong vibrational bands that fall in the infrared atmospheric window. IR absorption by CO2 at 14.7 μm sets the long wavelength limit of the infrared atmospheric window together with absorption by rotational transitions of H2O at slightly longer wavelengths. The short wavelength boundary of the atmospheric IR window is set by absorption in the lowest frequency vibrational bands of water vapor. There is a strong band of ozone at 9.6 μm in the middle of the window which is why it acts as such a strong greenhouse gas.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_window

[from 1932]
Of the seven known infrared absorption bands of ozone, four (4.7μ, 7.39μ, 9.6μ, and 11.38μ) have been investigated for the first time with a grating spectrometer. The band at 4.7μ shows three branches, not very sharply defined, while the one at 7.39μ shows only a single peak. The strongest band, at 9.6μ, has been resolved into two main branches which probably belong to two different vibrations.

https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.42.622

"Tropospheric, or ground level ozone, is not emitted directly into the air, but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). This happens when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight.

"Ozone is most likely to reach unhealthy levels on hot sunny days in urban environments, but can still reach high levels during colder months. Ozone can also be transported long distances by wind, so even rural areas can experience high ozone levels."

https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/ground-level-ozone-basics

WIND POWER

"The 2020 report on energy costs by Lazard found that the unsubsidized levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for onshore wind is 2.6 to 5.4 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), and the median unsubsidized LCOE for offshore wind is 8.6 cents per kWh. In comparison, the analysis finds that the lowest-cost conventional source, Gas Combined Cycle, has a cost range of 4.4 to 7.3 cents per kwh."

"Wind turbines are driven by boundary layer winds, those that occur near the surface of the earth, at around 300 feet."

"Long term variations are due to the passage of transient waves in the atmosphere, with a characteristic time scale of several days. The transient waves that influence wind in the Central U.S. are large scale and this results in the power output from wind farms in the region being somewhat correlated and not entirely independent. Large scale distribution of wind farms significantly reduce short term variability, limiting the relative standard deviation of the capacity factor to about 45%. The correlation is highest in summer and lowest in winter."

much more at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_States

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

"Electric Vehicles Are Way, Way More Energy-Efficient Than Internal Combustion Vehicles"
https://www.motortrend.com/news/evs-more-efficient-than-internal-combustion-engines/

Well, generally so. This Toyota engine is about 40% efficient in and of itself:
https://www.thedrive.com/tech/18919/toyota-develops-worlds-most-thermally-efficient-2-0-liter-engine

Suggested ICE improvements:
https://www.brighthubengineering.com/machine-design/90240-making-more-efficient-combustion-engines/

UKRAINE

Please be aware that my knowledge of history in Ukraine is very limited.

KIEVAN RUS'

"Kievan Rus'... was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The modern nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine all claim Kievan Rus' as their cultural ancestor, with Belarus and Russia deriving their names from it. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus' stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.

"According to the Primary Chronicle, the first ruler to start uniting East Slavic lands into what would become Kievan Rus' was Prince Oleg (879–912). He extended his control from Novgorod south along the Dnieper river valley to protect trade from Khazar incursions from the east, and moved his capital to the more strategic Kiev. Sviatoslav I (943–972) achieved the first major expansion of Kievan Rus' territorial control, fighting a war of conquest against the Khazars. Vladimir the Great (980–1015) introduced Christianity with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev and beyond. Kievan Rus' reached its greatest extent under Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054); his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the Russkaya Pravda, shortly after his death.

"The state began to decline in the late 11th century, gradually disintegrating into various rival regional powers throughout the 12th century. It was further weakened by external factors, such as the decline of the Byzantine Empire, its major economic partner, and the accompanying diminution of trade routes through its territory. It finally fell to the Mongol invasion of the 1240s, though the Rurik dynasty would continue to rule parts of Rus' until the 14th century in the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia and until the 16th century after the establishment of the Tsardom of Russia."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus%27

map of Kyivan Rus' circa 1054

PECHENEGS (PATZINAKS)

"In the 9th century, the Byzantines became allied with the Pechenegs, using them to fend off other, more dangerous tribes such as Kievan Rus' and the Magyars (Hungarians).

"The Uzes, another Turkic steppe people, eventually expelled the Pechenegs from their homeland; in the process, they also seized most of their livestock and other goods. An alliance of Oghuz, Kimeks, and Karluks was also pressing the Pechenegs, but another group, the Samanids, defeated that alliance. Driven further west by the Khazars and Cumans by 889, the Pechenegs in turn drove the Magyars west of the Dnieper River by 892.

"Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I employed the Pechenegs to help fend off the Magyars. The Pechenegs were so successful that they drove out the Magyars remaining in Etelköz and the Pontic steppes, forcing them westward towards the Pannonian plain, where they later founded the Hungarian state."

"In the 9th century the Pechenegs began a period of wars against Kievan Rus'. For more than two centuries they had launched raids into the lands of Rus', which sometimes escalated into full-scale wars....The fortunes of the Rus'-Pecheneg confrontation swung during the reign of Vladimir I of Kiev (990–995), who founded the town of Pereyaslav upon the site of his victory over the Pechenegs, followed by the defeat of the Pechenegs during the reign of Yaroslav I the Wise in 1036. Shortly thereafter, other nomadic peoples replaced the weakened Pechenegs in the Pontic steppe: the Cumans and the Torks. According to Mykhailo Hrushevsky (History of Ukraine-Ruthenia), after its defeat near Kiev the Pecheneg Horde moved towards the Danube, crossed the river, and disappeared out of the Pontic steppes."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pechenegs

GOLDEN HORDE

"The territory of the Golden Horde at its peak extended from Siberia and Central Asia to parts of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the Danube in the west, and from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea in the south, while bordering the Caucasus Mountains and the territories of the Mongol dynasty known as the Ilkhanate.

"The khanate experienced violent internal political disorder beginning in 1359, before it briefly reunited (1381–1395) under Tokhtamysh. However, soon after the 1396 invasion of Timur, the founder of the Timurid Empire, the Golden Horde broke into smaller Tatar khanates which declined steadily in power. At the start of the 15th century, the Horde began to fall apart. By 1466, it was being referred to simply as the "Great Horde". Within its territories there emerged numerous predominantly Turkic-speaking khanates. These internal struggles allowed the northern vassal state of Muscovy to rid itself of the "Tatar Yoke" at the Great Stand on the Ugra River in 1480. The Crimean Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate, the last remnants of the Golden Horde, survived until 1783 and 1847 respectively."

"The Tsardom of Russia conquered the Khanate of Kazan in 1552, the Khanate of Astrakhan in 1556, and the Khanate of Sibir in 1582. The Crimean Tatars wreaked havoc in southern Russia, Ukraine and even Poland in the course of the 16th and early 17th centuries (see Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe), but they were not able to defeat Russia or take Moscow. Under Ottoman protection, the Khanate of Crimea continued its precarious existence until Catherine the Great annexed it on April 8, 1783. It was by far the longest-lived of the successor states to the Golden Horde."

"In 1363, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania won the Battle of Blue Waters against the Golden Horde and conquered both Kiev and Podolia."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Horde

GRAND DUCHY of MOSCOW

The Grand Duchy of Moscow...also known in English simply as Muscovy..."was a Rus' principality of the Late Middle Ages centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the Tsardom of Russia in the early modern period. It was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, who had ruled Rus' since the foundation of Novgorod in 862."

"Ivan III further consolidated the state during his 43-year reign, campaigning against his major remaining rival power, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and by 1503 he had tripled the territory of his realm, adopting the title of tsar and claiming the title of 'Ruler of all Rus'."

"Ivan's successor Vasili III also enjoyed military success, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512 and pushing Muscovy's borders to the Dnieper. Vasili's son Ivan IV (later known as Ivan the Terrible) was an infant upon his father's death in 1533. He was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar together with the proclamation of the Tsardom of Russia."

"Important to the development of the state of Moscow, however, was its rule by a series of princes who expanded its borders and turned a small principality in the Moscow River Basin into the largest state in Europe of the 16th century."

"By the 15th century, the rulers of Moscow considered the entire Rus' territory their collective property. Various semi-independent princes of Rurikid stock still claimed specific territories, but Ivan III (the Great; r. 1462–1505) forced the lesser princes to acknowledge the grand prince of Moscow and his descendants as unquestioned rulers with control over military, judicial, and foreign affairs."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow

WIKIPEDIA HISTORY of UKRAINE - HIGHLY SELECT EXCERPTS

"Until the late 18th century, the Crimean Khanate maintained a massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East, exporting about 2 million slaves from Russia and Ukraine over the period 1500–1700."

"After the Union of Lublin in 1569 and the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Ukraine fell under the Polish administration, becoming part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland."

"Ruthenian peasants who fled efforts to force them into serfdom came to be known as Cossacks and earned a reputation for their fierce martial spirit."

"The nascent Cossack state, the Cossack Hetmanate, usually viewed as precursor of Ukraine, found itself in a three-sided military and diplomatic rivalry with the Ottoman Turks, who controlled the Tatars to the south, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, and the Tsardom of Muscovy to the East."

"Canadian scholar Orest Subtelny provides a context from the long span of European history:

"In 1919 total chaos engulfed Ukraine. Indeed, in the modern history of Europe no country experienced such complete anarchy, bitter civil strife, and total collapse of authority as did Ukraine at this time. Six different armies-– those of the Ukrainians, the Bolsheviks, the Whites, the Entente [French], the Poles and the anarchists – operated on its territory. Kyiv changed hands five times in less than a year. Cities and regions were cut off from each other by the numerous fronts. Communications with the outside world broke down almost completely. The starving cities emptied as people moved into the countryside in their search for food.'"

"The Soviet famine of 1930–33, now known as the Holodomor, left millions dead in the Soviet Union, the majority of them Ukrainians." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine

WIKIPEDIA MAP of OTTOMAN EMPIRE in 1683

TREATY of PERPETUAL PEACE (1686)

"The treaty confirmed the earlier Truce of Andrusovo of 1667. It consisted of a preamble and 33 articles. The treaty secured Russia's possession of Left-bank Ukraine plus the right-bank city of Kiev. 146,000 rubles were to be paid to Poland as compensation for the loss of the Left Bank."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Perpetual_Peace_(1686)

GRIGORY POTEMKIN

"Potemkin's achievements include the peaceful annexation of the Crimea (1783) and the successful second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792).

"In 1775, Potemkin became the governor-general of Russia's new southern provinces. An absolute ruler, he worked to colonize the wild steppes, controversially dealing firmly with the Cossacks who lived there. He founded the towns of Kherson, Nikolayev, Sevastopol, and Ekaterinoslav. Ports in the region became bases for his new Black Sea Fleet."

"Potemkin focused instead on Russia's southern provinces, where he was busy founding cities (including Sevastopol) and creating his own personal kingdom, including his brand new Black Sea Fleet. That kingdom was about to expand: under the Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, which had ended the previous Russo-Turkish war, the Crimean Khanate had become independent, though effectively under Russian control. In June 1782 it was descending again into anarchy. By July 1783, Potemkin had engineered the peaceful annexation of the Crimea and Kuban, capitalizing on the fact that Britain and France were fighting elsewhere. The Kingdom of Georgia accepted Russian protection a few days later with the Treaty of Georgievsk searching for protection against Persia's aim to reestablish its suzerainty over Georgia."

"Potemkin also initiated the redesign of Odessa after its capture from the Turks; it was to turn out to be his greatest city planning triumph."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigory_Potemkin

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV & UKRAINE

"After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917, the new Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd had little influence over Ukraine.

"In March 1918, as the Bolshevik government concluded a separate peace with the Central Powers, the Germans occupied the Donbas and Khrushchev fled.

"When Soviet troops, pursuant to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, invaded the eastern portion of Poland on 17 September 1939, Khrushchev accompanied the troops at Stalin's direction. A large number of ethnic Ukrainians lived in the invaded area, much of which today forms the western portion of Ukraine. Many inhabitants therefore initially welcomed the invasion, though they hoped that they would eventually become independent. Khrushchev's role was to ensure that the occupied areas voted for union with the USSR. Through a combination of propaganda, deception as to what was being voted for, and outright fraud, the Soviets ensured that the assemblies elected in the new territories would unanimously petition for union with the USSR. When the new assemblies did so, their petitions were granted by the USSR Supreme Soviet, and Western Ukraine became a part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR) on 1 November 1939. Clumsy actions by the Soviets, such as staffing Western Ukrainian organizations with Eastern Ukrainians, and giving confiscated land to collective farms (kolkhozes) rather than to peasants, soon alienated Western Ukrainians, damaging Khrushchev's efforts to achieve unity.

"One out of every six Ukrainians were killed in World War II.

"Ukrainians joined partisan forces, seeking an independent Ukraine.

"The partisans, many of whom fought as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), were gradually defeated, as Soviet police and military reported killing 110,825 'bandits' and capturing a quarter million more between 1944 and 1946. About 600,000 Western Ukrainians were arrested between 1944 and 1952, with one-third executed and the remainder imprisoned or exiled to the east."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev

UKRAINIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC

"The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1917, the National Congress in Kyiv elected the Central Council composed of socialist parties on the same principles as throughout the rest of the Russian Republic. The republic's autonomy was recognized by the Russian Provisional Government. Following the October Revolution, it proclaimed its independence from the Russian Republic on 22 January 1918 by the Fourth Universal.

"From late 1919, the UNR operated as an ally of the Second Polish Republic. On 10 November 1920, the state lost the remainder of its territory to the Bolsheviks. The 18 March 1921 Peace of Riga between the Second Polish Republic, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus), and Soviet Ukraine sealed the fate of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

"After the October Revolution, many governments formed in Ukraine, most notably the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets (1917–1918) based in Kharkiv, and its Soviet successors. This force, along with the Ukrainian Republic (based in Kyiv), plus the White Movement, Poland, Green armies, and the Anarchists, fought constantly with each other, which resulted in many casualties among Ukrainians fighting in a 1917–21 Ukrainian Civil War as part of the wider Russian Civil War of 1917–23.

"The Bolsheviks realized that the Rada had no intention of supporting the Bolshevik Revolution. They reorganized into an All-Ukrainian Council of Soviets in December 1917 in an attempt to seize power. When that failed due to the Bolsheviks' relative lack of popularity in Kyiv, they moved to Kharkiv. The Bolsheviks of Ukraine declared the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic outlawed and proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets with capital in Kyiv, claiming that the government of the People's Secretaries of Ukraine was the only government in the country. The Bolshevik Red Army entered Ukraine from the Russian SFSR in support of the local Soviet government. As the relationships between members within the Tsentralna Rada soured, a series of regional Soviet republics on the territory of Ukraine proclaimed their independence and allegiance to the Petrograd sovnarkom (Odessa Soviet Republic (southern Ukraine), Donetsk-Krivoi Rog Soviet Republic (eastern Ukraine)). The Donetsk-Kryvoi Rog Republic was created by a direct decree of Lenin as part of the Russian SFSR with its capital in Kharkiv. "The Bolsheviks invaded Ukraine from Kursk in late December 1918 where the new Ukrainian Soviet government was reestablished earlier in November of the same year. On 16 January 1919 Ukraine officially declared a war on Russia while the Russian Soviet government continued to deny all claims of invasion.

"In October 1921 the Ukrainian National Republic's government-in-exile launched a series of guerrilla raids into central Ukraine that reached as far east as Kyiv Oblast. On 4 November, the Directorate's guerrillas captured Korosten and seized much military supplies. But on 17 November 1921, this force was surrounded by Bolshevik cavalry and destroyed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_People%27s_Republic

DONETSK-KRIVOY ROG SOVIET REPUBLIC

"The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic claimed the territories south of the neighbouring Ukrainian People's Republic, including the Donbas, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav, and part of the Kherson Governorates. In the beginning, the republic's capital was the city of Kharkov, but later with the retreat of the Red Guard it moved to Luhansk. The newly created government challenged the authority of the General Secretariat of Ukraine and the People's Secretariat.

"The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic was disbanded at the second All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets on 20 March 1918 when the independence of Soviet Ukraine was announced. The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic failed to achieve recognition, either internationally or by the Russian SFSR, and in accordance with the March 1918 second Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was abolished.

"The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic was invoked during the war in Donbas (started 2014), when the legislature of the unrecognised separatist Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) adopted a memorandum on 5 February 2015 declaring itself the successor to the Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic, and Artyom as founding father."

This is a very interesting map:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk%E2%80%93Krivoy_Rog_Soviet_Republic

DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE of UKRAINE

"The Act was adopted in the aftermath of the coup attempt in the Soviet Union on 19 August [1991], when hardline Communist leaders attempted to restore central Communist party control over the USSR. In response (during a tense 11-hour extraordinary session), the Supreme Soviet (parliament) of the Ukrainian SSR, in a special Saturday session, overwhelmingly approved the Act of Declaration. The Act passed with 321 votes in favor, 2 votes against, and 6 abstentions (out of 360 attendants). The text was largely composed during the night of 23 August–24 August."

"In the independence referendum on 1 December 1991, the people of Ukraine expressed deep and widespread support for the Act of Declaration of Independence, with more than 90% voting in favor, and 84% of the electorate participating. The referendum took place on the same day as Ukraine's first direct presidential election; all six presidential candidates supported independence and campaigned for a "yes" vote. The referendum's passage ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union remaining together even on a limited scale; Ukraine had long been second only to Russia in economic and political power.

"A week after the election, newly elected president Leonid Kravchuk joined his Russian and Belarusian counterparts (Boris Yeltsin and Stanislav Shushkevich, respectively) in signing the Belovezh Accords, which declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Soviet Union officially dissolved on 26 December.

"Since 1992, the 24th of August is celebrated in Ukraine as Independence Day."

"In the independence referendum on 1 December 1991, the people of Ukraine expressed deep and widespread support for the Act of Declaration of Independence, with more than 90% voting in favor, and 84% of the electorate participating. The referendum took place on the same day as Ukraine's first direct presidential election; all six presidential candidates supported independence and campaigned for a "yes" vote. The referendum's passage ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union remaining together even on a limited scale; Ukraine had long been second only to Russia in economic and political power. A week after the election, newly elected president Leonid Kravchuk joined his Russian and Belarusian counterparts (Boris Yeltsin and Stanislav Shushkevich, respectively) in signing the Belovezh Accords, which declared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. The Soviet Union officially dissolved on 26 December. Since 1992, the 24th of August is celebrated in Ukraine as Independence Day.

"Poland and Canada were the first countries to recognize Ukraine's independence, both on 2 December 1991. On the same day (2 December) it was reported during the late-evening airing of the television news program Vesti that the President of the Russian SFSR, Boris Yeltsin, had recognized Ukraine's independence.

"The United States did so on 25 December 1991."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_of_Ukraine

BELOVEZH ACCORDS

"The main obligations of the parties to the Agreement, ratified by all former Soviet republics except Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, includes the following:

"The end of the existence of the USSR, with the 'setting up of lawfully constituted democratic… independent states… on the basis of mutual recognition of and respect for State sovereignty.'"

"Establishing on the territory the 'right to self-determination' along with 'norms relating to human and people’s rights.'"

"'Parties guarantee to their citizens, regardless of their nationality or other differences, equal rights and freedoms. Each of the Parties guarantees to the citizens of the other Parties, and also to stateless persons resident in their territory, regardless of national affiliation or other differences, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights and freedoms in accordance with the universal recognized international norms relating to human rights.' (Article 2)"

"'Territorial integrity' along with 'freedom of movement of citizens'. (Article 5)"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belovezh_Accords

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

“....totaling approximately 1,700 warheads remained on Ukrainian territory. Formally, these weapons were controlled by the Commonwealth of Independent States.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

Imagine if North Dakota declared independence. The USAF would still control the nuclear weapons in the state. The weapons would remain under the control of the Pentagon and the federal government in DC.

COMMONWEALTH of INDEPENDENT STATES

"When the USSR began to fall in 1991, the founding republics signed the Belavezha Accords on 8 December 1991, declaring that the Soviet Union would cease to exist and proclaimed the CIS in its place. A few days later the Alma-Ata Protocol was signed, which declared that the Soviet Union was dissolved. The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), which regard their membership in the Soviet Union as an illegal occupation, chose not to participate. Georgia withdrew its membership in 2008 following the Russo-Georgian War. Ukraine formally ended its participation in CIS statutory bodies in 2018, although it had stopped participating in the organization much earlier."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States

PUTIN's DECLARATION

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/putins-speech-declaring-war-on-ukraine-translated-excerpts

REVOLUTION of DIGNITY

"The Revolution of Dignity...also known as the Maidan Revolution and the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and the security forces in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv culminated in the ousting of elected President Viktor Yanukovych, the overthrow of the Ukrainian government, and the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

"In November 2013, a wave of large-scale protests (known as Euromaidan) erupted in response to President Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. In February of that year, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement with the EU. Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. These protests continued for months; their scope widened, with calls for the resignation of Yanukovych and the Azarov Government."

"...police withdrew from central Kyiv, which came under effective control of the protesters. Yanukovych fled the city...the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from office by 328 to 0."

"Widespread protests, both for and against the revolution, occurred in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Yanukovych previously received strong support in the 2010 presidential election. These protests escalated into violence, resulting in pro-Russian unrest throughout Ukraine, especially in the southern and east regions in the country. As such, the early phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War soon quickly escalated into a Russian military intervention, the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the creation of self-proclaimed breakaway states in Donetsk and Luhansk. This sparked the Donbas War...

"The interim government, led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, signed the EU association agreement."

"Russia considered the overthrow of Yanukovych to be an illegal coup (and a 'military seizure of power') and did not recognize the interim government.

"On 1 March, Russia's parliament approved a request from President Vladimir Putin to deploy Russian troops to Ukraine.

"On 24 March 2014 Putin stated, referring to the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election, 'We will respect the choice of the Ukrainian people and will be working with the authorities formed on the basis of this election.'"

"Following the Ukrainian revolution, a secession crisis began in the Crimean Peninsula. On 1 March 2014, Yanukovych put into writing his request that President Putin of Russia send military forces 'to establish legitimacy, peace, law and order, stability and defending the people of Ukraine'. On the same day, Putin requested and received authorization from the Russian parliament to deploy troops to Ukraine in response to the crisis. Russian troops accordingly mobilized throughout Crimea and the southeast of Ukraine. By 2 March, Russian troops had complete control over Crimea."

much more detail at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity

INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR

They do a good job of tracking military events of the war:

https://www.understandingwar.org/

RUSSIAN WORD TRANSLATOR

As some of you might know, looking up a conjugated Russian verb in text can be hard.

just put the Russian word after the final slash and let Wiki do the work:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/нести