The crisis along the border of Russia and Ukraine has been brewing for over 7 years, but recently has been drawing ever closer to exploding. In September of 2014, the Minsk Protocols were drafted with the intent to bring peace to the Donbas region along with several other demands including preserving the sovereignty of the nation from a Russian invasion and land absorption attempt.
The United States has been monitoring the region and is ready to step in if deemed necessary to tamp down the Russian aggression. The situation began when Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of participating in “dangerous provocative actions” within the eastern Donbas region. In response Russia began mobilizing forces toward their border, a Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov released a statement on Friday saying that Russia has the right to move its military across its territory at its discretion and was simply being cautious in regards to the situation.
The United States is discussing the possibility of deploying warships in the Black Sea during the coming weeks as Russia continues to amass forces so that all preparations would be in place for intervention if it came to that. A problem does come into play as to how the Russians would react to the mobilization of warships in their waters so until the situation becomes more aggressive on either side of the Navy will simply continue to fly reconnaissance aircraft in the international airspace above the Black Sea to monitor the Russian naval activity report on any troops movements within Crimea.
The United States has not officially classified the amassing of Russian forces on their border as preparing for an offensive attack, but CNN reported that "if something changes we will be ready to respond" quickly and decisively. America has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the citizens residing in the Donbas region and to see the protocols of the agreement followed fully. A Pentagon spokesperson by the name of John Kirby said last week that it was critically important "for all sides to comply with the Minsk Agreement" and "for the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine to be respected by Russia.” Ensuring that Russia respects the boundaries given to them in this sense means that they are fully aware of the might of the US and will be less likely to test the strength of boundaries or treaties with us moving forward.