On February 24^th, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Americans’ opinions on the war differ throughout the country, but overall, most have concluded that America is on Ukraine’s side, even if it is just from afar. But what are East High students’ opinions on the matter?

“I think it is a very complicated situation, but my specific thoughts on the dispute between Ukraine and Russia is that I’m really sad that nobody is doing anything about it especially because they can,” commented Camila Rivera, 11. “I feel like Ukraine could have been part of a big organization such as NATO in order for this to stop but that was one of the conditions that probably could have prompted the war even more. It’s just really sad to see that it’s happening and not a lot of people are doing anything about it.”

But what about the effect this war has on America? The simple answer: rising gas prices.

“With gas prices specifically it was going to happen, I think it was inevitable, especially with Russia,” noted Rivera. “I think the problem is that the United States and other countries, mostly western countries, should have distributed their gas imports. We knew a conflict with Russia was going to happen at some point, so I think fully depending on Russia for our gas income was a really big error.”

On the other hand, Alexandria Gurinko, 11,  has a similar opinion on how this issue could be resolved.

“If we just opened up the oil pumps we already have in the United States we wouldn’t have this problem,” said Gurinko.

Gurinko also shared her concerns regarding how the war is being handled in general by President Biden. “The way Biden is handling this, like how he didn’t want to pull American citizens out of Ukraine, but he suggested that they leave, and then he didn’t want to send in any reinforcements for them, he just kind of left them there,” Gurinko stated.

Finally, one of the biggest impacts that worry American citizens is the possibility of a draft. Rivera shared her thoughts on the topic of the United States’ intervention in this war.

“I think America’s done what it can without going into full conflicts with Russia, such as sanctions and whatnot. Something we see with the United States is that it gets involved in things that it shouldn’t. Morally I feel like the United States should get involved, but practically it wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do.”

As the tension continues to rise between the two countries, as do opinions circling the conflict.