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
I just stated the basic facts. It is what it is. Putin is not going to invade the Ukraine and China is not going to try to take back Taiwan.