the difference is in what the war is actually for.
looking at the troops placements he intends to take half the country as a minimum
im guessing up to the river possibly giving concession on the capital for bargaining.
the river is a good natural boundary & secures land access to Crimea.
(the optimist in me speaking)
speaking strategically ...
putin doesn't need the capital, he just needs to be seen enforcing a 50/50 split of the country to support the Russian ukrainians and bring face back to Russia
like the old east versus west Berlin but probably a softer border if there is no firing weapons.
but it feels like he intended to take the whole country when i look at the maps, but i think that's the bluff to avoid having a hard border with NATO
avoiding a hard border with NATO would be in both sides advantage
assuming the border is not an active war zone.
watching the ukranian refugees is heart wrenching stuff
you can see they are educated modern people whom can contribute to a high functioning modern reality if not for the war.
but neither side will back down so it appears and nato the UN and USA have failed to bring russia and the opposing ukranian forces to the bargaining table for 8 years.
its been a proxy american bi-partisan puppet like media picture portrayed at the expense of the ordinary ukranian and surrounding areas
the war is a cancer
the longer it goes on for the more damage to every thing elses.
imagine if the trump administration had spent its time being a mediator instead of grand standing on nationalistic new right wing ideologies.
meanwhile a
all those middle eastern and African covid war and economic illegal migrants flood through destabilizing the entire European nato borders
feeding radical extremist conflict in many places
places that the usa has run away from and the media choose not to report on.
all most people see is what they think is junk food TV news one liners
and that makes up their perception
or the likes of PJ maligned self importance of conflicted self valuations
not seeing the Forrest fire for the trees burning while looking for something to rail against in a stereo typed bi-polar association to "make things easy" on himself to feel washed clean of guilt.
we have seen global expansionism in many forms with massive shortages and struggle with covid as a quiet economic war took place for food resources and vaccines
we have seen the jockying for position of new oil drilling
we have seen a positive move by russia to supply germany with gas
but still we see the vile vitriolic media being produced by those who are pro war and pro division, who seek to divide and take what others need and have.
covid-19 has shown the disparity of resources, access and above all mineral and food security.
surely this move by Russia is not a surprise
so where have all the diplomats been ?
what have the leaders been doing ?
hiding behind their own money
choosing to play nationalist hedging to avoid loosing voter support while usa pushes hard on neo-nationalism
i am not surprised russia has decided to properly support one side in the civil war to force an end to it.
the cancer of war must be cut out if it cant be cured.