I forgot, but I think one of you gentlemen when supporting Russian invasion of Crimea, said that invasion of East/South Ukraine by Russia would be unjustified.
(I could be mistaken, then, my apologies)
I did say with Crimea its a special case.
As for eastern Ukraine no one has proof of Russian involvement. As long they don’t formally cross the border, they can do what they want.
The Donbass is not pro-Russian. The way they see it in Moscow, its more advantageous keeping it a thorn in the West’s side.
They can claim to be the knight in shining armor that they would be robbed of in an invasion. While Russia won’t be stopped by sanctions, it figures it has no need to intervene. Ukraine is being kept weak and that’s good enough for Russia’s interests.
Feel free to check my past posts.
I said when the coup went down, and Russia moved to secure Crimea, that the next logical step would be the Donetsk Basin, because they wouldn’t take kindly to the anti-Russian radicals now in charge. It’s where the resources and the Industry are that.
I also thought that Melitopol would be the key to any later moves, as it sits astride the road and rail to Crimea, but as far as I know, there hasn’t been any unrest reported there.
It was in a post to Jim Robinson, in fact.
You keep making the same mistake, confusing an honest appraisal of the facts as known, as “supporting Putin”.
I spent a good portion of my military career “analyzing” the Soviets, so all of this has a particular interest to me.