After the start of the Russo-Ukraine war in 2014, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For the first few weeks and months, the world focused its eyes on Ukraine. Facebook profiles turned blue and yellow, people hung Ukrainian flags from their doors and the support for Ukraine seemed to be at a high.
Two years later, however, Ukraine appears less in the U.S. consciousness and seems to only make its way to news headlines when funds are passed in Congress to continue to help. The public has started to look away, and students seem to understand the importance of the war and its historical significance but simply feel as though, with the constant cycling of the news, it’s not as easy to keep up with anymore.
Although the war continues in Ukraine, national attention has looked away, focusing more now on the Israel-Hamas war. The latest information that made the headlines was President Volodymyr Zelensky revealing the number of Ukrainian casualties since the start of the war. According to the BBC, Zelensky said the number of casualties amounted to 31,000 troops in the past two years.
Ryn Aldridge, a freshman studying international studies and history, said they have noticed a decline in the coverage of news for the Russia-Ukraine war. They said from a historical standpoint, this can sometimes be very dangerous because history may eventually repeat itself.
“I think a lot of people should be paying attention to it,” they said. “It’s just not as widely broadcast anymore, (and) I absolutely think it should be.”
Aldridge said despite their best efforts, it's becoming increasingly difficult to stay in touch with the conflict as the amount of coverage on it continues to decline.
“It just seems as though it’s not being as well broadcasted and it’s harder to find those articles on the current situation,” Aldridge said. “There’s a lot of opinions and ideas about the war too. It’s hard to completely understand what’s happening just because a lot of it is hidden by certain governments and stuff like that.”
Fiona Yori, a freshman studying exercise physiology, said she hasn't been keeping up with the news on the Russia-Ukraine war as much as she used to. While she was very invested in the beginning and would often find herself looking things up and doing more research, this is something she has seen herself doing less this past year.
“I started college and I just feel like I didn’t have as much time,” she said. “I was just worried about other stuff.”
Although she believes it is important to stay informed, she understands that not everyone has the time or interest to keep up with everything going on.
“I think it’s important to be informed but it just depends if you’re interested in it, then you can keep up with it super in-depth,” Yori said.
Anna Rumbler, a freshman studying applied nutrition science, said she thinks it's probably been a year since the last time she paid attention to news going on in Ukraine. Despite her best efforts to research things in the beginning, she no longer does.
“When it started, I would keep up with what was going on and look more stuff up and research about it but now I don't,” she said.
Rumbler thinks this may have to do with the war’s longevity. Because of how long the war has lasted, it becomes more difficult to stay informed especially when it no longer consistently makes headlines in the news.
“People lose interest when it's been going on for so long,” she said.
