News
Why is Russia invading Ukraine?
Published
4 years agoon
By air, land, and sea, Russia has launched a devastating attack on Ukraine, a European democracy of 44 million people. For months President Vladimir Putin had denied he would invade his neighbour, but then he tore up a peace deal, sending forces across borders in Ukraine’s north, east and south.
As the number of dead climbs, he is now accused of shattering peace in Europe and what happens next could jeopardise the continent’s entire security structure.
Where have Russian troops attacked and why?
Airports and military headquarters were hit first, near cities across Ukraine, including the main Boryspil international airport in Kyiv.
Then tanks and troops rolled into Ukraine in the north-east, near Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million people; in the east near Luhansk, from neighbouring Belarus in the north and Crimea in the south. Paratroops seized a key airbase just outside Kyiv and Russian troops landed in Ukraine’s big port cities of Odesa and Mariupol too.
Moments before the invasion began, President Putin went on TV declaring that Russia could not feel “safe, develop and exist” because of what he called a constant threat from modern Ukraine.
Many of his arguments were false or irrational. He claimed his goal was to protect people subjected to bullying and genocide and aim for the “demilitarisation and de-Nazification” of Ukraine. There has been no genocide in Ukraine – it is a vibrant democracy led by a president who is Jewish. “How could I be a Nazi?” said Volodymr Zelensky, who likened Russia’s onslaught to Nazi Germany’s invasion in World War Two.
President Putin has frequently accused Ukraine of being taken over by extremists, ever since its pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted in 2014 after months of protests against his rule. Russia then retaliated by seizing the southern region of Crimea and triggering a rebellion in the east, backing separatists who have fought Ukrainian forces in a war that has claimed 14,000 lives.
Late in 2021 he began deploying big numbers of Russian troops close to Ukraine’s borders. Then this week he scrapped a 2015 peace deal for the east and recognised areas under rebel control as independent.
Russia has long resisted Ukraine’s move towards the European Union and the West’s defensive military alliance Nato. Announcing Russia’s invasion, he accused Nato of threatening “our historic future as a nation”.
How far will Russia go?
Russia has refused to say if it seeks to overthrow Ukraine’s democratically elected government, although it believes that ideally Ukraine should be “freed, cleansed of the Nazis”. Mr Putin spoke of bringing to court “those who committed numerous bloody crimes against civilians”.
It was a thinly veiled hint and by invading from Belarus and seizing Antonov airport close to the outskirts of Kyiv, there is little doubt that the capital is well within his sights.
In the days before the invasion, when up to 200,000 troops were within reach of Ukraine’s borders, he had focused his attention on the east.
By recognising the Russian proxy separatist areasof Luhansk and Donetsk as independent, he had already decided they were no longer part of Ukraine. Then he revealed that he supported their claims to far more Ukrainian territory. The self-styled people’s republics cover little more than a third of the whole of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions but the rebels covet the rest, too.
How dangerous is this invasion for Europe?
These are terrifying times for the people of Ukraine and horrifying for the rest of the continent, witnessing a major power invading a European neighbour for the first time since World War Two.
Dozens have died already in what Germany has dubbed “Putin’s war”, both civilians and soldiers. And for Europe’s leaders this invasion has brought some of the darkest hours since the 1940s. It was, said France’s Emmanuel Macron, a turning point in Europe’s history. Recalling the Cold War days of the Soviet Union, Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of Ukraine’s bid to avoid a new iron curtain closing Russia off from the civilised world.
For the families of both armed forces there will be anxious days ahead. Ukrainians have already suffered a gruelling eight-year war with Russian proxies. The military has called up all reservists aged 18 to 60 years old. Top US military official Mark Milley said the scale of Russian forces would mean a “horrific” scenario with conflict in dense urban areas.
The invasion has knock-on effects for many other countries bordering both Russia and Ukraine. Latvia, Poland and Moldova say they are preparing for a big influx of refugees. A state of emergency has been declared in Lithuania and Moldova, where thousands of women and children have already entered.
This is not a war that Russia’s population was prepared for either, as the invasion was rubber-stamped by a largely unrepresentative upper house of parliament.
What can the West do?
Nato has put warplanes on alert but the Western alliance has made clear there are no plans to send combat troops to Ukraine itself. Instead they have offered advisers, weapons and field hospitals. Meanwhile, 5,000 Nato troops have been deployed in the Baltic states and Poland. Another 4,000 could be sent to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia.
Instead, the West is targeting Russia’s economy, industry and individuals.
The EU has promised to restrict Russian access to capital markets and cut off its industry from latest technology. It has already imposed sanctions on 351 MPs who backed Russia’s recognition of the rebel-held regions
Germany has halted approval on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, a major investment by both Russia and European companies
The US says it will cut off Russia’s government from Western financial institutions and target high-ranking “elites”
The UK says all major Russian banks would have their assets frozen, with 100 individuals and entities targeted; and Russia’s national airline Aeroflot will also be banned from landing in the UK.
Ukraine has urged its allies to stop buying Russian oil and gas. The three Baltic states have called on the whole international community to disconnect Russia’s banking system from the international Swift payment system. That could badly impact the US and European economies.
The Russian city of St Petersburg will no longer be able to host this year’s Champions League final for security reasons. Europe’s football governing body Uefa is also planning further measures.
By Paul Kirby
BBC News
Multiple Award Winning Travel & Celebrity Blogger | Teacher | Geographer | Writer| Publicist | PR Expert| Editor | Artistes Promoter| Talent Manager | Digital Marketer | Social Media Consultant | Web Entrepreneur | CEO of Sintim Media |
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A Mindset Revolution Letter to the President of Ghana – John Dramani Mahama
Published
17 hours agoon
May 20, 2026
Mr President, my name is Oscar Bimpong, and I’m a proud son of this Nation called Ghana. I know you are a listening President, and that is why I have the confidence to write this letter.
The fact is, I have advocated for a mindset change for the last 18 years in schools, religious organisations, and public and private sector institutions in Ghana. Many call me the Mindset Revolutionist of the 21st century.
I was so proud when, during your campaign, you touched on RESETTING Ghana. That means you were going to drive change that will steer Ghana to where it belongs on the world map. The fact is, I’m so happy you kept to your promise.
Therefore, resetting in my definition means bringing something to its original state. A typical example is the factory settings feature on a phone. A factory setting is the original software state of a smartphone when it leaves the factory. When you hit the factory settings feature on your phone, all your personal files, contacts, messages, and customised settings are permanently deleted. Relating this to governing the people of Ghana, it means you want to bring Ghana to a fresh start, where we can build the country in the direction where we want it to be. This is where President John Dramani Mahama wants to take Ghana, for us to build a new Nation that will be hinged on experiencing not only the Ghana we want, but the Africa we desire.
This is a very great initiative, but the RESET lacks one critical ingredient that would
make it a complete initiative, and that is: MINDSET RESET.
Reset and mindset have the word ‘set’ in it. The word set has various meanings, but to contextualise it, the word set defines how you’ve programmed something to operate. If I position a car in gear 1, it means the car is programmed to move at a slower speed, but if the gear is positioned at gear 6, then it means you are firing all cylinders to cause the car to operate at its utmost maximum speed. This is the true definition of programming.
Meaning, if a car can be programmed, then in the same vein, the mind of a person can be programmed; likewise, the mind of a nation. The question is, do Ghanaians have a mindset such as resilience, a positive and consistent attitude towards work, a drive for higher productivity, attention to detail, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, etc.? We do have a level of mindsets listed, but it is not in a higher dimension that can drive growth and productivity, leading to the success of a nation. This is why we should have a mindset revolution as part of the reset agenda of the President.
Using the car as a case study, it means some of us are programmed to operate at the speed of gear 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. However, if you ask me, on a scale of gear 1 to 6, I will give the nation operating at the level of gear 2. This means our president wants us to operate at gear 6, but the question is, are we programmed at the level? Meaning, we are operating below our potential as a nation. That is my personal opinion. This is why mindset change is critical to any reset.
Where does Ghana sit in all that I have said culturally as people? Are the people wired for a reset that will drive a new mindset that will bring change? Are we ready as a nation to move from our comfort zone to the uncomfortable zone to experience different results?
Every successful nation has a mindset development agenda as an integral part of its policies that has driven its success. The mindset of a nation will determine the level of success it can achieve. No Nation can succeed beyond the mindset of its people. How the people have set their minds to operate will surely reflect in achieving the goals of the Nation.
One of the campaign promises of our President, John Dramani Mahama, was RESETING Ghana to where it belongs for growth and productivity. One of the projects that is significantly aligned with his mantra of RESET is the BIG PUSH. The big push simply means a heavy investment in infrastructure, from roads to overhead bypasses and developmental strategic construction projects.
This is very good as it serves as a strategic tool for job creation and a strong foundation for the growth of a nation.
I have followed the Minister of Roads and Highways keenly on monitoring the road projects assigned to contractors, and the feedback is not fully aligned with the RESET agenda of the President. Sometimes the Minister gets to the site, and the contractors are not on site; some are scheduled behind time, and for some, the community complains that the contractors are never on site.
This is my point: you cannot RESET a nation without a MINDSET RESET.
For President John Dramani Mahama to succeed with his RESET agenda, MINDSET CHANGE must be at the forefront of this big push and anything else he wants to achieve.
A country cannot achieve anything substantial if the mindset of its people is culturally wired to the status quo.
If you ask me, I will say Ghana must have a whole MINISTRY FOR MINDSET CHANGE.
The mindset of some of the contractors defines the mindset of many Ghanaians and our leaders.
Therefore, a reset without a mindset reset means a project like a big push has a high potential to fail, and even if it succeeds, the after-project servicing will surely be a challenge because of our cultural orientation when it comes to maintenance. The fact is, we are a country that doesn’t have any iota of maintenance culture in us. Therefore, imagine all the roads under the big push are completed, I can bet that within a few years, the roads will come to a deplorable state just because of the lack of a maintenance culture. This is why you cannot ignore mindset when you are talking about a reset. Mindset change should be a national agenda to drive a new wave of thinking that drives a high-impact attitude, leading to higher productivity that creates a results-oriented culture in the country.
It is about time the country invests in the mindset of its citizens. If our attitude towards work does not change, then you can invest so much, but the return on investment will be low relative to the initial cost.
Countries like the UAE, China, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Rwanda, etc., and a host of others, succeeded with a strong emphasis on mindset change. Let’s use Singapore as a s case study. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, from 1965, cultivated a survival mindset among its citizens to overcome a lack of natural resources. They adopted a first-world mindset based on honesty, meritocracy and pragmatism and today, Singapore is a highly advanced country. We have natural resources in abundance, unlike Singapore, but we are still hinged on exporting raw materials with no value addition. This is about to change as the President has emphasised that our natural resources will have value addition by 2030. Great initiative, but this must be backed by a strong mindset, not only from leadership but from the people.
In my book, Mindset Revolution – Re-engineering your Mind from Prison to Purpose,
I stated that Africa is the only continent that has proven that having enough resources is not a means to wealth creation. How can the richest continent in terms of natural resources be inhabited by the poorest people on earth? This means God has endowed us with all the things we need to succeed, but we are still poor. If this is not attributed to the mindset that we carry, then what else can this be?
The mindset of the people in a nation will determine the level of success they can achieve. A weak mindset
will yield mediocre results, and a strong mindset will yield higher productivity.
Recently, Burkina Faso decided not to provide us with tomatoes, and we went begging. How can a country have such blessed soil that if I throw tomato seeds in my backyard, in a few days, tomatoes are growing? How can such a Nation not have an abundance of this commodity?
Just imagine that Israel and the UAE have turned the desert into an arable land. Can you imagine the mindset these countries carry? The word impossible is not in their DNA. They only see the word possible in the word impossible. That is how the nation is wired to operate, and that is to find solutions to problems that seem impossible to weak minds.
Put a Ghanaian in the same scenario where they are supposed to turn a desert into fertile soil, and I can bet the first response will be, ” This is not possible”. Why, because we’ve been programmed with a mindset that we easily succumb to challenges. The moment we see a problem, we walk away instead of finding a solution.
This means that you cannot win as a leader if the people you are going to war with have weak minds.
Mr President, it is about time mindset becomes an integral part of our national discourse from primary school to the universities, from the public to the private sector organisations and the nation as a whole. I remember when we were young, we read books like ” Courtesy for Boys and Girls ” that shaped our attitude and character. In this generation, our young people must read books like Mindset Revolution for Boys and Girls. Helping this generation to develop the right mindset is the greatest inheritance we can give them. I was having a conversation with a top executive of this nation, and I suggested that every school must have a curriculum on mindset, and every public agency and private institution in this country must have a DEPARTMENT OF MINDSET.
For example, the UAE has a Minister of Happiness and Well-being. Her role is to make sure she aligns government policies to promote social good, positivity, and a high quality of life. This simply means the minister is tasked to make sure the citizens have the right mindset needed for policies to be adhered to by driving a positive mindset, leading to a high quality of life among its citizens. Also, Albania recently appointed an AI-generated “non-human” minister defined as the minister of mindset programmed to eliminate corruption. Mindset is everything, as it is the strong foundation upon which anything GREAT can be built.
I can assure everyone reading this letter, including our leaders, that Ghana cannot get
to the pinnacle of its success if the mindset is not part of the national agenda.
In conclusion, Mr President, my team and I stand ready to partner with your government in developing and implementing a transformative national Mindset Revolution Programme for Ghana. We believe that beyond policies, infrastructure, and economic reforms, the true strength of a nation lies in the mindset of its people.
This initiative has the potential to inspire a new generation of disciplined, innovative, responsible, and purpose-driven citizens who will contribute meaningfully to national development and global competitiveness. Through intentional mindset transformation, Ghana can unlock the full potential of its human capital and position itself as a model for sustainable growth and leadership in Africa.
Mr President, history remembers leaders not only for the offices they held but also for the lasting impact they had on the lives of their people. You have a unique opportunity to leave a defining legacy — one where Ghana’s transformation becomes a global case study of how visionary leadership and a renewed national mindset can drive extraordinary progress against all odds.
We are fully committed to supporting this vision and would be honoured to work with your administration to make this national transformation agenda a reality.
My mantra is that it is possible if you only believe. Never start anything you don’t believe in. I’m writing this letter to the President because I know the impact our coaching and training sessions dubbed Mindset Revolution for Personal and Corporate Success have had on our dear Nation. The positive impact on schools, public agencies and private sector organisations must be replicated nationwide.
Let’s believe in ourselves and let’s work to get Ghana to where it belongs. The transformation journey of Ghana has started through a Mindset Revolution.
I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST, MR PRESIDENT
Written by Oscar Bimpong
CEO & Founder of Train2inspire Consultancy.
Email – info@train2inspire.com
Tel – +233 (0) 555803924.
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