> I wouldn't consider losing territory equivalent to losing lives. Russian behavior in occupied regions makes it quite obvious that those are equivalent, at le

> I wouldn't consider losing territory equivalent to losing lives. Russian behavior in occupied regions makes it quite obvious that those are equivalent, at least for people who dare to not identify as Russian. > Also, isn't the opinion of those living in Crimea important? To a degree, although you need to consider policies of expelling non-Russians from Crimea and intentionally settling Russians there in how much stock you give that. > When this started, it was assumed that Russia would collapse very quickly, There was also fairly widespread surprise how well Ukraine held on.