Quote Originally Posted by MrWhatsItToYa: I believe russia invaded Ukraine to try and stop them from joining NATO,and stop them from further aligning themselves with western countries.At least that's what russia said,but they also insisted they wouldn't invade Ukraine,so I would take their word with a grain of salt.I believe that's just part of it,I think putin eventually wants to get back part of eastern Ukraine by taking the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk and bringing them back under russian control,like it was before the collapse of the Soviet Union.And if he's able to do that,I'm not sure he would stop there.I think his end goal would be to get back all of the country of Ukraine under russian control. He would have to admit he is wrong on his opinion that he is justified in invading another country,that was only looking to protect themselves (by talking about joining NATO) from the thing he is actually doing right now,attacking them.If I was a much smaller country(Ukraine) and a much bigger country(russia) kept threatening me,I also would look into protecting myself any way possible. Nice read. Thanks for sharing. I don't think Putin would ever admit he's wrong, even if he is.
He is preserving his strategic naval base and port superiority like every super power on earth to ever exist.... Not complicated.