> Russia: starts a war to prevent it from having a much longer land border with NATO. woefully reductive. Russia sees Ukraine and Slavic Orthodox populations

> Russia: starts a war to prevent it from having a much longer land border with NATO. woefully reductive. Russia sees Ukraine and Slavic Orthodox populations as their dominion -- Ukraine was under the Tsar and the USSR, and it should be theirs again. it would be like if the US has a minor collapse and Alaska gets independent, and later the US invades; "this was our state, has been our state, and everyone there speaks something like our language and religion" this is also why Putin won't back down on it.