Gravitas Plus: Did NATO push Ukraine into war? 

Honestly, I've learned more about geopolitics and history from this woman than all of western media outlets combined

"It is actually a war between Russia and NATO.Ukraine is just the battleground" - Amit Sengupta

Thank you so much for this video. I never knew about all this. I'm from the UK so Russia has obviously been painted as the villain in all the media and yes, whilst they are the villains for invading another country, I never really knew or understood the background to this. Why on earth did NATO keep expanding and taking all these unwarranted pre-emptive actions into the east to encircle Russia to the east? And when you mentioned how Russia said they were 'stabbed in the back' after NATO went back on their word - this is literally a repeat of WW2 and a continuation of the Cold War. After all the horrors we know happened within the last century, why do we keep returning to same spot over and over again? Who were we to go back on our word and unnecessarily expand NATO to Russia's borders? Whilst I don't think this justifies the war in Ukraine I do understand Russia's actions more. And, as someone from the UK, I want us to stop sending weapons. If anything, we can send supplies in terms of food and medicine, but we have no place to send weapons. Yes, we're part of NATO but why is it our PM extending the hand of friendship now? This will backfire on us heavily, and though I don't think Russia will attack us since it will most certainly aggravate and lead to WW3, we need to limit our involvement. I'm obviously not Ukrainian or Russian, but we need to have peace - what is the reasoning for war when we all have so many problems and so much more in common than differences? People need to stop interfering in business that doesn't involve them, start upholding treaties and remember their histories in order to maintain peace. I feel sorry for Ukraine for bearing the brunt of this decades long problem which erupted now, and I feel sorry for all the civilians and soldiers risking their lives on both sides. Speaking from UK, we need to focus more on our own problems and send foreign aid not weapons to those in need.

Best coverage I’ve seen of this war in the media

The news here in America isn’t this transparent. Thank you for being unbiased and helping soo many to understand what has lead to the situation we find ourselves in.

This report was more comprehensive with more unbiased facts and history than anything I’ve ever seen in US media on either side. This is the gold standard of what journalism and news reporting should be 👏🏼

I’ve always admired this lady, she tells things as they are, no bias or sugar coating things, that’s what I call responsible journalism.

As a Brit living in the USA, you put all other news networks to shame with your thorough knowledge and truthful reporting. Keep up the great work👍👍👍

I'm from Canada and I've learned more about War History by Ms.Palki Sharma that I never heard in school growing up. I could listen to her for hours she's brilliant !

Imagine the outcry if China and or Russia set up military bases on the USA's border

OMG, what an unbiased job, you got my subscription

I’m so impressed with this type of journalism. I’m from Australia and I have never watched this type of quality journalism here. Our journalists here focus on the narrative and can be too biased (western biased). This reporting by Palki sheds a light on the other side of the story (Russia). Thank you Wion. I just downloaded your app to show gratitude and support your journalism. Love from Sydney, Australia.

I'm from Ukraine born and raised before I migrated to US and this is by far one of the best news segments on the invasion I've seen

Thank you. I have been discussing this with friend and this sums up nicely. He is completely for nato . I argue Putin has been pushed to this . Always amazing journalism from WION.

Thank you so much for the real facts, youre literrally the only one who speaks the truth about the NATO rats. All the deaths so far could be avoided if NATO didnt push Ukraine to join them.

Well spoken and unbiased. This is what media should aspire to be. Not the cancel culture promotion it has become.

I love overseas journalism that hasn’t lost its integrity to corporate interests.

Finally, someone talked about the Russian security concerns and the risk that the NATO expansion provides for the country's very existence.

Well said. I’ve been vilified and slated for opposing this war due to the nato aggression whilst still condemning Russia’s attack on the Ukraine, where does it end? Hypocrisy, corruption and arrogance appear to be the order of the day.

Wow the last video i saw from you was that Russia was like a stalker exboyfiend to Ukraine. Your message to Russia was to "get over it" and let them join Nato. What a breath of fresh air to see a news network be mature modify its opinion with new information. Good job! Truly, you have my respect for quickly reestablishing the truth. Sad it took me a year to see this video.

I am a French citizen and although I believe this invasion should not have happened I often asked questions such as: Why did the international community not take sanctions against the US when they invaded Irak? Nothing also happened when the EU and the US recognized Kosovo that claimed separation from Yugoslavia, yet we treat the Donbass situation differently. Your clear and well written article provides a great point of view to know both sides of the story. Yes there is blame on the west and the US on driving Poutin to where he is now. I am saddened at the Western news media that is more sensational and provides biased information, not true analysis. And it is also saddening to see that the EU and the US do not appear to be in a mood to ind pacific solutions. I believe that it has always been a manipulation to reduce Russia to a poor economic level so that only one superpower remains. It is time for emerging nations to take the lead!

Please continue to carry the true spirit of journalism. Unbiased and spoken with unadulterated facts. Thank you Palki for providing this information

Thank you so much, you guys said facts instead of brainwashing us

Excellent analytical essay. Thank you very much, from a Canadian.

Being a westerner Hats off reporter.... This is the TRUE DEFINITION OF TRANSPARENCY.... GREAT JOB...

I'm a teacher and when I take classes, mainly online these days, I try to structure my presentation and sound a little bit like Ms Palki here. So crisp and clear.

Well done Gravitas 👏🏻

Every day since October 7th I realize more and more than I’m like a newborn baby in geopolitics, just opening my eyes for the first time. Holy god

I am truly speechless... Midst all the noise everywhere, it is rare to find an unbiased comprehension of causes of today's Ukraine situation. Well done Palki and WION team! Keep going!

Imagine if Russia created an alliance similar to Nato and had Mexico as one of its members.... what if Russia had military bases in Mexico. Do you think the U.S. would allow it? Remember the Cuban Missle Crisis?

NATO's own mission statement says that their first approach to any conflict is peaceful resolution. Only if that fails, will they resort to military action. Can anyone give me any evidence that they engaged in any efforts at peaceful resolution in this case, or in any of the other conflicts they've involved themselves in recently?

Thank you for the unbiased and objective assessment…well said 👏👏👏

Wooow!! Bravo 👏 This is the first impartial objective view on this situation. I’m from Russia and I strongly condemn this so called military operation and my heart goes out to people of Ukraine who has suffered in this brutal military actions. BUT: president Zelenski was warned by president Biden about possible invasion but did nothing to prevent it, conversely, he was repeatedly asking NATO to let Ukraine join them as fast as possible, also made a statement about developing nuclear weapons in future, which obviously heated things up. He probably thought Putin was bluffing, but he didn’t. My humble opinion- this invasion could have been prevented if Zelensky tried to negotiate not only with Biden but also with Russian authorities. So that some of responsibility should be accepted by president Zelensky also. Any way - Peace to Ukraine 🇺🇦

I personally hate war but every country has right to secure their borders and should be respected

An important fact that deserves more consideration: Russia's population is about 150 million whereas the total population of NATO countries is about 950 million. Thus NATO greatly outnumbers Russia. This helps explain why Russia fears NATO so much.

Nations have a right to choose where they want to be member of.

I am an american citizen and i know about this and agree with it. We are not that innocent.

Finally somebody had the guts to explain what is really about without putting the blame on one side! Bravo!

My god, THANK YOU! There are so few people on any network in the West who are willing to talk about anything of substance. What never gets mentioned in the Western media is that by imposing sanctions on Russian oil, they're forcing a lot of countries to by more expensive oil from Saudi Arabia/OPEC.

All wars truly are the fault of human death and suffering, because if you take that away, no one is ever threatened by anyone or anything to ever hate or kill anyone else.

Finally, someone who can report on the recent Ukraine event without being knee-deep trenched in bias

A very clear and educational video. Maybe NATO should be dissolved just like the Warsaw Pact. In my respectful opinion the United States needs to stop interfering in other countries and the UK should stop being the USA's poodle.

When countries engaged in a war, world leaders must gather to stop the war not promoting it.

Palki, you’re best! I am not Indian but I am so proud of you. If in case CNN has a job offer for you, please turn it down cos they’ll destroy your credibility. This video needs to go viral.

As an European absolutely against Putin, I still agree with this coverage. To deny the roles of Nato and the US in this crisis is disingenuous.

Well I’m glad India has the brain to evaluate a situation from an unbiased perspective. The disappointing part is we can not seem to muster the brain power to do the same. NATO is a relic that needs to disband. But why would a group w/ power lay it down ?

Here in Africa, most of us didn't know the reason why Russia and Ukraine were in war.... Thank you so much for your articulating it.

It’s a shame western news networks aren’t being this introspective..

I'm from Europe and these are exactly my thoughts. War is wrong, but Europe is also responsible for the present situation. There have been many warnings signs, but they have been ignored by many of the European and especially US leaders. Well presented.

WION is by far the best channel for political analysis in the whole world

They weren't " made NATO members," they wanted to become NATO members

An UTTERLY OUTSTANDING example of unbiased journalism. Perfectly sums up why I have reservations about unreservedly accepting the western narrative. My heart bleeds for the Ukrainians, but this war didn't start last week.

Well done! Most Americans don't understand the history, thank you for creating this story.

Even though you hurt my feelings as much as my eyes when I was forced to witness you switch sides on Sweden’s and Finland’s location on the map 5:09 I will say that you are making some good points. Nice work

Probably ,would have been better to try and keep restraint.If this war shift to the middle east now.That is a very big concern.

Absolutely the work of real journalism..put bare facts before the people.. don't preach ..let us make our own mind..well done palki👏👏

Well spoken. Let's not forget the unjust attack on Iraq by my own country. Will we ever learn? Things aren't so black and white as our politicians would have us believe.

Agreed and well explained.

"oh no a defensive alliance, now i cant invade my neighbours in peace :O" "i better invade the non nato european country that borders me in response"

Thanks for telling us the truth, I live in the UK and there is no mention of this at all here in our media, I only found Gravitas since the war started your great thank you Palki!!!

This is the purest form of free, balanced and finally serious journalism. I'm Austrian married to an Ukrainian wife and as such I have the war more or less daily even in my living room. So I'm of course against it. On the other hand it was clearly expectable, that Russia one day will fall crazy over the NATO expansion. Personally I call this passive aggressive expansion without any real need for it, since after the dissolution of the former UdSSR anyway the US have remained as the only superpower. The pity is that Putin, at least at in the early days of his presidentship, has been a historic chance for builing up trust. What's not mentioned in the report, is the fact, that Russia even suggested to become a NATO member and in parallel wanted to become a member of the EU. Both suggestions have been turned down by the West. And although having family relations to Ukraine, I'm sorry to say, that for my point of view, the actual Ukrainian leadership under President Selensky is to blame as well. Their insisting on a NATO membership is like pouring oil into a burning fire. It was a clear call from Russia, that they will never accept this step. Just imagine - we write 2050 and Canada and Mexico form a military agreement with China, inviting China to put some divisions of military forces on american soil. How will the US react to that? The will for sure not accept it, i.e. since the Monroe doctrin is still in force, in which the US clearly declare, that they will never accept foreign military on the American continent. And since this will be a threat to their security I can understand it. Although both, Canada and Mexico, as independent states will have all rightst to act in that direction. With other words, what's legally right, must not always be the right thing to do considering the bigger picture. Probably the best advice to Ukraine might be declaring neutrality and in parallel getting a security guarantee, that if Russia might ever again start a war against them, NATO will defend the Ukraine even despite the fact that they will not be a member. Will such a deal be easy to negotiate and achieve? Certainly not, but with some good will of all involved parties it shall still not be absolute utopic......

I found it interesting, NATO did not expand it's borders to Russia, the current member of NATO all joined voluntary into the organization, this is because how Russia have been treating for the past decades have left serious scars in their history and they are afraid of Russia, I personally think there wasn't a USSR 2.0 now is all because NATO exist.

Thank you for the correct version of news for a change ❤️🌞

I hope journalism is like this. Balanced and taking all sides into account

"invading a sovereign nation cannot be justified"? Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya come to mind in recent history. How about we talk about those invasions too.

Most people don’t know all of this. Thank you for reporting it succinctly and accurately. Everyone is dumb and it’s hard for me to be here.

Ukraine is like "Help! We're winning. Help, help!!!"

We need more of this in the open news. Unbiased journalists are a treasure.

I stopped watching the western media when I found this channel it sounds very well informed and unbiased

Imagine if Russia, China, North Korea and Iran built military bases in Mexico next to the border with the United States from San Diego ( California) to San Antonio ( Texas) When Russian missiles were placed in Cuba in 1962, the USA was ready to go to war.

Thank you for the view on both sides. You are now my main news service.

That's what I call a true journalism: truthful, politically unbiased. Thank you, Palki

I feel everyone should share this video. Let the unbiased reporting win over corrupted journalism.

Most of the former eastern bloc countries which joined NATO joined nearly 20 years ago, so why is it only a problem now? Putin wanted to seize Ukraine and wasn’t expecting this pushback. She also forgot to mention that the prospective member Georgia, was recently invaded by Russia

Parker Sharma you are godsent to humanity to open our ears, eyes and our feelings to see the truth but I want peace in the world

I’m Canadian and strongly agree with this view.

This reporter is the best in India and definitely better than 99% of western reporters.

Most people in the world understands this and that's why most world population wants Russia to win against NATO and they are gradually matching towards victory

Thanks for this objective information, nowadays it is impossible to get objective information about policy and many more topics !!

I know this is corny, but, I live in Scotland.. And I'm genuinely so grateful I found Wion on RU-vid. I've learned more in four under 10 minute videos from here than 34years of living in the UK.. Thank you everyone who works on these videos and STAY SAFE.

You will never see this explanation in western biased media. Excellent job, Palki and WION.

i love the part where she explains how nato pushed russia into this war and therefore started the war...

Remember the Cuba missile crisis in the 60’s when the Soviet Union was supplying Cuba with missiles near our territory,the U.S. immediately became hostile towards the Soviets and actually had plans on invading Cuba…..and if the Russians or any other country with hostility that we have towards decides to make a strategic move like that again.The US will do everything necessary in its power to neutralize the threat which would include invading another country.

Yes they did. Negotiations were taking place weeks before everyone suddenly cared. Russia was only asking NATO not to expand East. NATO was like: What are you gonna do about it?

The only problem with this is that this war has been going on for 8 years already...

Thanks for the Historical information and background on this war. Surely the US is the instigator of division and problems around the world. Teach us more sister, Thanks

Fair points, excellently stated, with prior verified information provided. It's also good to get a 2nd, outside the US perspective. America's Mainstream Media shows only one side and, as you said, there are two sides to every story. Well done.

Miss Palki and Wion do really a true journalism. All sides being shared.

this is actually on point. this is 100% accurate and as about as balanced a piece on this subject that ive ever seen. for context, ive lived in the usa, russia, denmark, israel and ukraine in the past 15 years

Thank you for your explanations. You got my subscription. Keep the great work!

NATO is a voluntary organization. It cannot "expand" towards Russia. Countries increasingly close to Russia have chosen to join NATO. To say "NATO has expanded towards Russia" suggests the area of expansion may not have been voluntary.

Nice to hear someone not taking sides. Just putting it out there for people to decide for themselves. Thank you.

With all the muddy waters out there in the US I am thankful to have found this channel. I have found no better coverage of foreign affairs anywhere else.

No, no, 2:50 most people in Central Europe wanted to be attacked by NATO and freed of communism and USSR. NOOOO - 3:12 - essence of russian state was more threatened by mass executions and genocides done by Stalin than from German invasion. No, 4:08 it was not symmetrical - USSR agreed not to physically occupy other countries for economical reasons and these coutries were happy about that. No, 7:14 it had merit only in intoxicated minds who praised mass murderers of their own nation like Stalin.

Imagine Russia would put several military barracks and 8 CIA spy stations at the US- Mexican border. Then remember what NATO did to Jugoslawia.

I've been speaking about this to a lot of people I know. I can't believe how simple minded most people are. There's always more than 1 side to the story and this story should be told. Everyone deserves a voice. We are better than that.

Always remember: War never happens in vacuum. Several events lead to it.

Actually explains and gives past instances/examples...i like this news outlet

Thank you............

Thank you Palki Sharma. As I Said before, I'll never dislike your analysis and reporting. And Thank God you have seen the real problem that led to Russia invasion.