The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022, is still ongoing. This conflict began as Russia felt unsecure as it viewed modern Ukraine as a constant threat. To date, the war has resulted in 46,000 deaths, 400 missing persons, and about 1,800 buildings destroyed. The news of Russian-Ukrainian conflict between the period of January and April captured the attention of several national media outlets for headlines.
During this period, Kompas, The Jakarta Post, Bisnis Indonesia, Media Indonesia, and Koran Sindo newspaper had made the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as headlines. Of the five media, Kompas had the most coverage on this issue. There were about 13 news articles on Kompas related to the Russian-Ukrainian war. The news coverage on the conflict include several country leaders condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unilateral actions against Ukraine. Other articles reported on international community’s various diplomatic and economic responses. Furthermore, leaders called Russia’s actions as violation of international law. Some news stories reported that Western countries were preparing to impose new sanctions on Russia.
Meanwhile, Koran Sindo’s coverage on the issue reached two articles. One of the articles appeared in the headline of the Koran Sindo newspaper on 1 March 2022. The news story was regarding the economic impact of the Russian and Ukrainian wars in Indonesia. The newspaper stated that the Indonesian government must anticipate the economic impact of Russian-Ukrainen conflict as Indonesia is part of the global supply chain that has allowed economies to be linked to one another.
Media Indonesia wrote four articles on the subject. One of the articles was published on 2 March 2022. Media Indonesia reported that dozens of countries had started sending military or humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The United States, Canada, and 20 European countries, for example, had agreed to Ukraine’s request for military equipment. Furthermore, Washington sent an additional US$350 million in military aid to Kyiv to increase total support to more than US$1 billion over the past year. For the first time in the history of the European Union, European leaders had agreed to send 450 million euros worth of arms to Kyiv.
Bisnis Indonesia and The Jakarta Post wrote about this issue with one and two articles, respectively. Bisnis Indonesia stated on 17 February 2022, that the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the past month had reached an anti-climax. Russia had decided to withdraw its troops from Ukraine’s borders. The global commodity market responded to this development as concerns about disrupted energy supply had eased, especially in Europe.
Meanwhile, The Jakarta Post wrote regarding this issue on 9 April 2022. The newspaper wrote about the vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC). The forum said that “massive” scale violators can not be members of rights organizations. The United Nations General Assembly in New York voted overwhelmingly to stop Moscow from sitting in judgment of other nations’ human rights records following allegations of war crimes in its six-week-long assault on Ukraine.