Volume 119, Issue 20
the
VISTA “Our Words, Your Voice.”
vistanews1903 @thevista1903 @thevista1903 The Vista ucentralmedia.com Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Putin orders military operation into Ukraine, financial santions slam the Russian economy
Natali Sevriukova reacts next to her house following a rocket attack the city of Kyiv, Feb. 25, 2022. (Emilio Morenatti/AP Images)
Sam Royka Reporter
Shells dropped on the Kyiv airport early Thursday morning as Russia invaded Ukraine, rolling in tanks and seizing control of Chernobyl. Russia’s nuclear weapons are now on high alert, meaning that the weapons are easier to detonate on shorter notice. Putin ordered the change Sunday. US troops have been ordered into countries that border Ukraine, such as Germany and Poland, but as Ukraine is not part of NATO, there are currently no plans to send troops there.
President Joe Biden confirmed this in his address Friday. Germany has lifted its ban on giving lethal foreign aid, and is sending Ukraine rocket launchers and missiles among other weapons. The Russian currency, the rouble, crashed 40 percent on Monday when trading opened and sanctions hit. Additionally, nine countries have banned Russian aircraft from their airspace. “This night they will storm,” Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy warned Friday after appealing for a cease-fire. Attacks on Kyiv as well as
other cities continued throughout the night. One Ukrainian, Andriy Vasylenko, is posting videos and updates about his experiences on YouTube. In a video uploaded Friday, Vasylenko describes traffic jams and unavailability of train tickets as people flee the country. He and his family are currently residing in the bomb shelter, as are many other Ukrainians. Kyiv has set a curfew and encouraged evacuation or to go to the bomb shelter. In some areas, subways are being used as shelters. Ukrainian guards fired warning
shots Friday to prevent a stampede at Kyiv’s central train station as crowds forced their way onto evacuation trains, but there were too many people to carry everyone out of Kyiv to western city Lviv. A Ukrainian soldier has blown himself up to prevent further Russian advance on a bridge. His name was Vitaly Skakun Volodymyrovych. He was a Marine battalion engineer. Russian President Vladimir Putin encouraged Ukrainian forces to overthrow their leaders Friday, Continued on Pg. 3
UCO men’s basketball takes 2022 MIAA title Madalyn Nix Editor-in-Chief
At Saturday’s final game of the 2021-22 season at Hamilton Field House, UCO men’s basketball defeated Missouri Southern 95-76, claiming their first MIAA regular season title since joining the league 10 years ago. The Vista spoke with Head Coach Bob Hoffman about the significance of Saturday’s win and what it took to get here and become champions. He said the work began last spring after their postseason loss to Northwest Missouri.
“We had to address a couple of things,” he said. “First of all, we needed to be better at who we were, and just be really… together more and everything we’re doing, so we focused on being able to do it from inside out, and no matter what the circumstances around us were, not let the circumstance define us, but that we would define our circumstances.” Hoffman said he’s excited about what’s next. “Because of our depth and our mindset of what we’ve been Continued on Pg. 3
UCO men’s basketball defeated Missouri Southern 95-76, claiming their first MIAA regular season title since joining the league 10 years ago. (Provided/ UCO Athletics)