link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-pull-troops-equipment-un-missions-2022-03-09/
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials have announced that they will be pulling back all of their troops from UN Peacekeeping missions. This comes after the Ukrainian president signed a decree that would return all peacekeeping forces from their missions. Ukraine contributes around 300 troops to six peacekeeping missions around the world with its largest being a contingent of 8 helicopters and 250 men provided to MONUSCO, the peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These helicopters are based in the east of the country where the situation is the most volatile, serving as a powerful deterrent to rebel attacks and a large force multiplier.
This is an important development for both Ukraine and the peacekeeping mission in the DRC. For Ukraine this means that they will be bringing back experienced forces from their peacekeeping missions that can be used to help in the defense of their country. For MONUSCO however, this is a much more serious development because it means that they have lost control of one of the most valuable parts of the peacekeeping force in the DRC, with the Ukrainian helicopters having previously been described as one of the most powerful parts of the peacekeeping mission. Because of the number of helicopters that the Ukrainians contributed this could have a serious impact on the ability of the peacekeepers to carry out their mission and will also prove to be hard to replace, with few countries being able to provide a helicopter force of this size.
This story relates to International Relations class because Ukraine is a sovereign state that was invaded by Russia which is another sovereign state. The UN is an IGO which Ukraine was providing peacekeeping forces to in order to help contain violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ukraine is now recalling their peacekeepers in order to help fight against the Russian invasion. With the departure of the Ukrainian peacekeepers the UN will have to find another country that can provide a similar force in order to fill the gap that the Ukrainians have left.