This is the first episode of the talkdiplomacy.com podcast. In this episode Ishaan Busireddy and Jacob Houston discussed the currently relevant Ukraine - Russia conflict and specifically the conflicts in Crimea and Novorossiya (War in the Donbass). We initially discuss the ancient history of the Ukraine-Russia region and how the ethnic mix that resulted from gradual southern East Slavic expansion affects the modern situation. We then discussed how Crimea was given to Ukraine by Russia during the Soviet-era and how the collapse of the Soviet Union, along with the economic importance and and ethnic Russian majority of Crimea, triggered the contemporary issue, the Seizure of Crimea, and the War in the Donbass