In 2014 the Ukrainians foolishly threatened not renewing the lease on Putin’s military port on the Black Sea. Something he pretty much can’t live without. Add that to the fact that most people in the Crimea wanted to break from the Ukraine so he annexed it.
Putin has not invaded and occupied the Ukraine and likely won’t try because he has the same GDP as Texas and cannot afford it. He would have a terrible time holding it as the Ukrainians hate the Russians guts. And the EU is just itching to bet it on with Putin and try to drag the US into it. No, Putin is not going to get dragged into that.
Inform yourself. Battle of Ilovaisk, inside Ukraine was between Ukrainian forces and regular Russian troops:Russian 6th Tank Brigade, 8th Motor Rifle Brigade, 18th Motor Rifle Brigade, 21st Motor Rifle Brigade, 31st Air Assault Brigade, 137th Airborne Regiment, 247th Air Assault Regiment, 331st Airborne Regiment and 1065th Artillery Regiment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ilovaisk
Putin’s words contained some crucial factual inaccuracies, but Russia’s engagement was not one of them, and here he seemed quite clear. He stated that: “We were forced to defend the Russian-speaking population of Donbas, forced to react to the desire of people living in Crimea to return to the Russian Federation".
This was not the first time Putin has admitted a military role in Donbas. On Dec 17, 2015, he acknowledged that “Russian military personnel were “resolving various issues" in Donbas. He had been asked by Ukrainian journalist, Roman Tsymbalyuk about possible compliance with the Minsk agreement by releasing all Ukrainian political prisoners like Nadiya Savchenko and Oleg Sentsov, exchanging them for two Russian military intelligence officers captured in the Luhansk oblast. Putin began by claiming that Russia had never said that they did not have people in Donbas engaged in various activities, including in the military sphere.
Moscow has always admitted that Russian nationals were fighting in Donbas, but has assiduously pushed the narrative that they are prompted, as Putin once claimed, “by the call of the heart”, and in no way Russian soldiers or mercenaries.
There is enormous satellite, video, witness and other evidence giving the lie to these claims. There are also the graves of Russian soldiers who are known to have been killed in Donbas.
https://khpg.org/en/1476316494