As the Russian invasion of Ukraine intensifies, RTÉ children's news programme news2day has been keeping younger viewers informed, explaining what is happening.
It is also important to know who the key players in the conflict are - so here is all you need to know about them, and how they rose to power in the neighbouring countries.
On one side is Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. He is leading the invasion on neighbouring Ukraine, which experts say has breached human rights and the Geneva Conventions - a set of rules about armed conflict, agreed by countries around the globe. Mr Putin has been heavily criticised all over the world.
On the other side of the border, Volodymyr Zelensky is the Ukrainian president, who refuses to back down to Mr Putin, and is defending his country on the front line, desperate for the war to end and for peace in his country.
So let's take a closer look...
Mr Putin is President of Russia, the ruling position in what is the largest country in the world. He has ruled Russia for 22 years - but how did he get there?
Mr Putin grew up in a city now known as St Petersburg.
He was born in 1952, and is now 69. He didn't come from a rich background and his childhood was quite tough; he is known to have been in lots of fights as a kid.
As a young man, Mr Putin was a spy for the Soviet Union, a group of countries, dominated by Russia and including Ukraine.
He and his family moved to Moscow in 1996, and he quickly became an important political figure.
By 1999 he had come to power as acting prime minister, and later that year he was made President.
Since then Mr Putin has always been in power - president, prime minister and now President again, and he has changed rules in that time to keep himself in power.
He is a controversial figure in Russia and around he world. He wants to be known as a strong popular leader, and some do see him that way.
Others, though, say he does not run the country in an honest way, that he's like a dictator, ruling Russia by force, taking away people's freedoms, imprisoning opponents, such as Alex Navalny, and giving too much power to himself and a small number of very wealthy people.
He used government money to pay for his own palace.
Opinion polls reported by Russian media suggest he is still popular with many people, but others say this media can't be trusted and the majority in Russia don't like him.
He has said he felt humiliated when the Soviet Union broke up 30 years ago and still says he is ashamed of this. As President he wants to make Russia a world power.
But while he may believe the war will make him look powerful and decisive, if it doesn't go the way he expects, it could be dangerous for him, with many people believing he's been in power too long already.
President Zelensky rose to power in a much different way. Politics wasn't his career until 2019 - he was actually a comedian and actor.
Mr Zelensky was born in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, in 1978.
When he was born, Ukraine was still a part of the Soviet Union and he is actually a native Russian speaker.
He is Jewish, and has rejected Russian claims of fascism, saying "How can I be a Nazi?" Some of his family members died in the Holocaust.
He graduated from Kyiv National Economic University with a law degree, but he soon chose to follow a career in entertainment as a comedian and actor.
He went on to be the voice of Paddington Bear when the popular film was released in Ukraine, and also won the country's version of Dancing with the Stars.
In 2015, he appeared in his biggest role to date in the Ukrainian TV series Servant of the People. He played an anti-corruption school teacher who became president.
The TV show became incredibly popular at a time when Ukraine was suffering from a big corruption problem itself.
In 2018, he followed in the footsteps of his character and announced he would run for president as an anti-corruption candidate.
It was seen as a joke at first, but in April of the following year he was elected with a landslide 73% of the vote.
As Russia invaded, the ability of a former actor to defend the country was questioned, but his decision to remain in the capital while it is under attack has inspired Ukrainians and many around the world. Mr Zelensky says he will never back down.
Vladimir in Russia and Volodymyr in Ukraine - two versions of the same name from two countries with an intertwined history.
Vladimir Putin wants their future to be as one country, while Volodymyr Zelensky wants an independent future for Ukraine with a greater relationship with the West.
The outcome of this war will decide what that future holds.
