>>510896958
In all fairness, Russia didn't want to invade Ukraine. There was diplomacy going on behind the scenes. The problem was that Russia demanded that the west agree to not expand NATO to Ukraine. The West rejected Putin's demands.

The road to war began in September 2021 when Ukraine held joint-NATO operations in Ukraine. Which came right after the American pullout from Afghanistan. Zelensky admitted he knew in October 2021 that Russia would invade.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-holds-military-drills-with-us-forces-nato-allies-2021-09-20/

Putin had also written a long article in 2021 where he tried to pursued the Ukrainians not to the pursue the course they were on because it would "destroy their country". You can read it here.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Historical_Unity_of_Russians_and_Ukrainians

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf5xEBwBhds

Putin finally began sending troops near the border to show the west he was serious. The West continued to rebuke him. So he invaded, with a relatively small number of troops. And Ukraine nearly agreed to terms immediately after. But Boris Johnson showed up and told Ukraine if they signed anything with Russia the West would basically turn their backs on Ukraine. Feed them to the wolves.

https://x.com/citizenjournos_/status/1756061498051375435