The main reason for the invasion is that Putin believes independent Ukraine shouldn't exist, and that it all belongs to Russia for historical reasons. It's obvi

The main reason for the invasion is that Putin believes independent Ukraine shouldn't exist, and that it all belongs to Russia for historical reasons. It's obvious if you actually listen Putin's speeches. Synder goes further, and suggests that Putin's view that Ukraine never "really" existed, and was in essence basically a fake country (society, culture, identity) all along. Which explains a lot of things; like how he seemed so confident that he could just plough in there, and grab pretty much as much of the country as he wanted in a few weeks. Because how could such a "non-society" possibly come together and mount an organized defense? In any case -- it's definitely not hard to figure out. The man is practically an open book, at least in terms of his core motivations and his basic attitude toward Ukraine -- and many of his choice phrases are quite revealing. One just needs to be able to read between the lines, in certain places (and not simply take everything he says at face value).