If Russia is so great, and Putin is so great, why does Ukraine want no part of it?
That's not true. The citizens of Lugansk and Donetsk, Ukraine wanted no part of a westernized Ukraine. Don't they count?
Not always. No borders are drawn perfectly. And I doubt they were really mistreated.
Linguistic or cultural minorities generally get by. If the Ukrainians and the Russians are truly as close, historically and culturally, as Putin says, then it it does not make sense that Ukraine woukd mistreat the folks you are worried about. Furthermore, Zelensky knows who and what Putin is. Better than we do. He knew Putin wanted an eastern-facing government in Ukraine. Given that, it makes no sense that Zelenskiy or any other Ukrainians would in fact mistreat the Russian minority, because that would give Putin a pretext to interfere. Just like Hitler did to rescue those poor Germans being mistreated so in the Sudetendland and Pomerania. It would not be a rational act by Ukraine.
It makes much more sense that Putin simply wanted control over Crimea, and Ukraine's Black sea coast. That is 100% rational. Every nation wants coastal access for themselves, but not for others.
Putin is not fighting for Russians any more than Mussolini was fighting for Italians. He is an ambitious, capable, autocratic world leader who is comfortable using military aggression to rebuild the geopolitical status of the USSR.
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Ukraine went in the western direction due to a CIA-sponsored revolution, not because of a popular, democratic vote.
It's just as valid to observe that all the pro-Russian activity in Ukraine is FSB-sponsored.
