> and also is EXTREMELY strategic for logistics routes from the "East" to the "West" But Ukraine was serving Russia nicely as a logistics channel, until Russia

> and also is EXTREMELY strategic for logistics routes from the "East" to the "West" But Ukraine was serving Russia nicely as a logistics channel, until Russia started strangling its own channel by using oil and gas pipelines through Ukraine as a political lever. That behaviour long precedes 2014. If Ukraine was a vital logistics channel for Russia, why would they deliberately sabotage it? But they did this repeatedly, under cover of various transparent excuses. The "breadbasket" thing is irrelevant; it was not called "the breadbasket of Russia", because Russia didn't rely on Ukraine for food.