As tanks assemble on Russia’s border with Ukraine, fears of outright war on the edge of Europe are mounting, with some incendiary language from officials in Moscow hailing ‘the end of Ukraine’. The region has been a hotspot ever since Russia annexed the Donbas region in 2014, drawing anxious global attention. But what makes Ukraine such an important point of tension between Russia and the West? This is an ancient conflict on many fronts - for the land of Ukraine, the minds of its people and the keys to Europe itself, writes Bohdan Ben.

As Putin sends more and more troops, the mounting conflict on the Ukrainian border threatens a large-scale war on the edge of Europe. The precarious development of the country of Ukraine – as a territory and a self-identifying nation - is being severely endangered by the war in the Donbas. That fate is the key to Europe’s relationship to Russia, a relationship with serious, global consequences. But to understand this conflict one must understand the history – military and psychological – of this ancient, disputed border.