[Jonty30]

In my view, Putin just wanted the Russian speaking areas of Ukraine. His objectives were limited. Those keeping track of events in Ukraine noted that about 8,000, or so, Russian ethnics were slaughtered shortly before Putin declared war.

[dfwgator]

In my view, Putin just wanted the Russian speaking areas of Ukraine.

That's pretty much the whole country. Most Ukrainians speak Russian as their first language. The Ukrainian language in Ukraine is like Gaelic in Ireland.

[Timber Rattler]

Those keeping track of events in Ukraine noted that about 8,000, or so, Russian ethnics were slaughtered shortly before Putin declared war.

Well that's a lie.

[BobL]

“In my view, Putin just wanted the Russian speaking areas of Ukraine. His objectives were limited. Those keeping track of events in Ukraine noted that about 8,000, or so, Russian ethnics were slaughtered shortly before Putin declared war.”

The thing was, Putin didn’t even want that...his preference was to keep the Russian-speaking areas in Ukraine, but not at the cost of the Ukrainian Ethnic Cleansing Program...something that the West would not agree to, as Putin understood that trying to change borders was a big deal.

So it was either sitting by while a massacre took place in the Donbass, or going in and then dealing the fallout. Hard to see any other Russian leader, other than a puppet of the West, doing anything different.

[ought-six]

“Those keeping track of events in Ukraine noted that about 8,000, or so, Russian ethnics were slaughtered shortly before Putin declared war.”

Well, I’ve been following this conflict for almost ten years; and your numbers are just flat-out wrong. The general consensus is that prior to February, 2022, some 14,000 people were killed in what for all practical purposes was a civil war in eastern Ukraine. Of that number, about 3,500 were non-combatant civilians, ethnic Russian and ethnic Ukrainian. The rest were combatants. That number does not include the 298 passengers and crew of flight MH17, a civilian airliner that was shot down by pro-Russia separatists using weaponry supplied by — and their crews trained by — Russia.

[lodi90]

In my view, Putin just wanted the Russian speaking areas of Ukraine. His objectives were limited. Those keeping track of events in Ukraine noted that about 8,000, or so, Russian ethnics were slaughtered shortly before Putin declared war.

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Entirely wrong.

Just last week Putin personally denied the entire historical nationhood of Ukraine. Russian chauvinists like Putin think all of Ukraine is part of Russia and Ukrainians are just bad Russians.

That roughly 8,000 figure you are thinking of includes all those killed since Russia invaded Ukraine with its no insignia illegal army in 2014. Combatants, civilians on both sides, etc. Everyone.

[MalPearce]

When did that happen? Even the Donbas ombudsman appointed with Kremlin approval agreed with the trends reported by EU, OCSE, UN and Red Cross. Even if they disputed the numbers.

2014-2018 was bad.

2019 to 2021 - if you exclude the occasional death by misadventure (including accidents like stepping on old landmines and getting hit by cars driven by paramilitaries), the annual deaths of innocents didn't even get into triple digits.

Within the period between 25 and 30 December, 1 serviceman was injured.

Within the period between 1 January and 30 December 2021, in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, 129 people sustained injuries and traumas of varying severities as a result of armed aggression by Ukraine: 97 servicemen of the Republic and 32 civilians.

Within the period between 25 and 30 December 2021, 1 serviceman died.

Within the period between 1 January and 30 December 2021, in the territory of the DPR, 7 civilians and 70 servicemen of the Republic died as a result of the armed aggression by Ukraine.

It should be noted that since the armed conflict began in the Donetsk People’s Republic, 5038 people including 91 children died.

Source: https://eng.ombudsman-dnr.ru/the-overview-of-the-current-social-and-humanitarian-situation-in-the-territory-of-the-donetsk-peoples-republic-as-a-result-of-hostilities-between-25-and-30-december-2021/