Putin just wants to “Take Our Country Back”™
Our side says that all the time. He’s actually doing it.
(just one way to look at it)
Ukraine is not Russia; and except for Soviet aggression, never was Russia. It’s beginnings were with the nomadic tribes of the Stepps, and the Nordsmen that came down from Sweden through Lithuania-Poland. Here is a good overview: The Animated History of Ukraine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJvz3Ai9Ppw Additional info: A very informative presentation by the former PM of Sweden: Carl Bildt: The history of Ukraine is different from the history of Russia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_SQuLf74n4
The problem with this is that it is just plain old imperialism. Ukrainians are a different people, much like the Finns and Poles and Lithuanians and Tajiks. There never was anything holding them to the Russian center other than superior force, exerted on behalf of and for the benefit of a Russian ruling class and to the detriment of the ruled.
I had some fun today looking into the Russian vs Ukrainian languages. I thought they would be quite similar, but it turns out not to be as much as I thought. In fact, it seems that lexical similarity is 62%, which is much lower than Spanish and Italian, or Spanish and Portuguese, or even Spanish and French (75%). Imagine telling the Spanish that they need to let the French rule them because they are “brothers”. The last time that was tried it went very badly.
I love you in a non-sexual way !