[rjsimmon]

It’s been a few years now, did Putin take over the Ukraine? No, he did not. He secured Sebastopol which is what he desired, as per the Russia/Ukraine agreement that the rebel government in Kiev sought to deny.

[GoldenState_Rose]

Yes Ukraine proved too resistant so now he’s staked his bets on Middle East (albeit in different format) with Iran and Assad in Syria.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Putin won’t let this go. Ukraine is rich in natural resources and a rich agricultural sector. Also Odessa on the Black Sea is a strong port and shipping center. Russia needs to control this.

[DesertRhino]

The Kiev coup has a childish understanding of a coup. They thought that by grabbing the seat of government, they naturally inherit the entire nation that the old government held.

The truth, is that everyone else in the country has the same right to grab what they wish. A coup only gives you what you can grab by force.

If a coup grabs DC, they don’t own Texas by default. Sevastopol was never going to became a NATO base and it was crazy to dream otherwise

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

He also took over Donbass (Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts). The occupation has displaced 3 to 5 million people and dramatically weakened Ukraine’s once improving economy. From what I’ve heard he’s dismantled factories, especially military ones, and taken them to Russia.

[Cronos]

For Russians, Ukraine and Belarus (BiałoRussia) are, in their Russian minds, "part of us" -- Western Ukrainians and Belarussians disagree

All three nations are from the same parent - Kievan Rus, which was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century.

Muscowy arose as really a successor to the Mongols - defeating them with their own tactics and then absorbing them. The Grand Dukes of Muscowy took on both the trappings of Caesar (as the "Third Rome") and of the Great Khan.

Bialorus was early on conquered by the Lithuanians, but as the Lits were small in number, the Belarussians with their dialect and their Kievan Rus style of localised governments dominated and defined the culture until the 1600s. In 1400 Belarussia-Lithuania joined with Poland in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. After 1600 the Belarussians and Lithuanians increasingly got Polonized (as polish language and culture had developed far far ahead by that time). After the partitions of Poland, Belarus fell under Russia and its nascent culture was strangled. Then it was shot under the Soviets. Today most speak Russian BUT they do not feel Russian (just like the Irish or the Scottish do not feel English) - and their culture is surprisingly resilient. They will not easily succumb to Russian rule

The Ukrainians are the remnants of Kievan Rus, but really they are of people re-populating the land after the ravages of the Mongols and then the Turkic Tatars. As recently as the early 1900s their identity was "we are from here", not particularly "Ukrainian". And then under the Soviets intense Russification happened.

Today I would say that the Donbas region would go to Russia by choice. Adn the Western Ukrainian region is scary in their xenophobia.

I believe that Putin Russia would:

• deeply want the Donbas region
• Want the rest of the Black sea coast
• NOT want Moldova - with its Romanian majority it is more a headache, but perhaps Transdniestra.
• NOT want Belarus - better to keep a buffer against the Poles and as long as the Belarussians don't join the EU or NATO, its fine
• Not want the Baltics - too much trouble
• wait for NATO to kick out Turkey and then grab the Dardanelles