2022 is off to a very chaotic start with a war being waged by Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine. The world is just barely starting to recover from a pandemic, and now a full fledged war in Eastern Europe has begun. The start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in late February when murmurings and rumors of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine began to surface in the media. The rumors were proven to be true on February 24th, 2022 when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full fledged invasion of Ukraine. Ever since this day bombings, death, and war have affected not only Ukraine, but the world as a whole. 

Students at DePaul College Prep have a variety of different responses regarding their feelings and knowledge towards this matter. For this article, eight students were asked about their knowledge of the war and their responses to it.

When asked what they know about this crisis so far, the general response from all students is that Russia is invading Ukraine in order to take their land for themselves. Most students polled believed that the United States has an appropriate amount of involvement in the matter, and that they shouldn’t do anymore to the point in which they would be targeted by Russia. 

Students have also felt a deal of anxiety about the crisis, sharing they are somewhat worried that this could expand into an international debacle, especially with the threat of nuclear consequence by President Putin. If that were to happen, the world would never be the same again. 

Students polled also have been getting most of their information across different forms of media and different news sources. One student named the Wall Street Journal as their main source of information.

Misinformation has become an emerging issue within this new age crisis. Media has been weaponized in this crisis as a form of pushing whatever form of political agenda the misinformer wants to spread. 

One of the most prominent examples of misinformation regarding the war in Ukraine is a video spread across social media allegedly showing an Ukrainian anti-aircraft gun shooting down a Russian aircraft. In reality, the clip is from a realistic military tactic shooter video game known as, “ARMA 3”. This clip spread like wildfire feigning to show the horrors and advancements that are being made in this war. 

At the end of the day, this Russia and Ukraine crisis has affected everyone and everything in the world. In this modern day war, misinformation has become a huge problem with keeping up with the war and what is happening in the world. Because of this, young people don’t know what to be worried about, where to look for information, and a plethora of other stressors.