War in the Black Sea (21st Century Crisis)

The War in the Black Sea (Russian: Война на Черном море, Voyna na Chernom more, Ukrainian: Війна в Чорному морі, Viyna v Chornomu mori) known in Russia as the Black Sea Defensive Operation (Russian: Oерация Черноморская оборонительная, Operatsiya Chernomorskaya oboronitel'naya) and in Ukraine as Operation Retake Our Lands (Ukrainian: Операція Візьміть назад наші землі, Operatsiya Vizʹmitʹ nazad nashi zemli)  was fought between Ukraine and Russia, which triggered a military response from Russia's CSTO allies, as well as other Russian-friendly nations such as Turkey.

The war was a result of Petro Poroshenko's impatient irritation with the results of the 2012 Russia-Ukraine Border Agreement, repeatedly warning Moscow that if Moscow did not hand over Crimea, Donbass or East Ukraine back to Kiev, that military response would be "swift" and "devastating". President Poroshenko repeatedly sought help from NATO and the United States, but President Donald Trump refused, stating that NATO will only help Ukraine if Ukraine got attack, nonetheless, other NATO states such as Britain, France and Germany sent arms and aid to Ukraine. Due to growing bitterness between Russia and China, which occured parallel to the situation, the Chinese government offered a hand to Ukraine, seeing as it as a way to further spread its influence into Europe, sending the first few Chengdu J-20 fighter aircraft for the Ukrainian Air Force. China loaned $3.4 billion to the Ukrainian government to build its military force to combat Russia.

Ukraine fired the first shot, when Ukrainian warships and aircraft bombarded Crimea, resulting in a swift Russian aerial response. The governments of Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria all declared war on Ukraine, seeing as they were all allies of Russia via the CSTO. Turkey, despite being an SCO (China-led military alliance) member, decided to aid Russia, and had a meeting with Xi Jinping, promising not to have direct confrontations with Chinese troops, with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stating that Turkey owed Russia for Russia's help in the wake of terrorist bombings that rattled Turkey between 2014 and 2015. With the war lasting through December, Russia and its allies found themselves victorious in the war, after Russian forces raised their flag on top of the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev.