But Putin also fights back the bigger empire that threatens his country land security.
Right. Ukraine "threatens" Putin because it
might join NATO, so let's occupy Ukraine and have a new border with four
actual NATO countries. Hmmm... there are more "threats" now. Gotta occupy them too.
Putin the little snowflake will not feel "safe" until he owns all of Europe. Even then, there is the US just across the pond...
I do not think Putin plans to occupy Ukraine and join it with mainland Russia. Ukrainian peoples are hostile towards Russians still RF is trying to avoid civilian casualties.
I am assuming they are trying to keep their images and replace them with a puppet government in Ukraine. Putin knows annexation would cause more problems like insurgents and civilian unrest. Ukraine could be a buffer state between NATO and Russia.
The puppet government would only survive if the Ukrainian army and all Ukrainian citizens who are against the Russian rule
are exterminated and are replaced with Putinians from Russia proper.
We are probably talking 90-100% of the 44 million. You do the Math. It will be physically impossible.
They are already determined to defend their country. Imagine if Putinians start killing Ukrainian citizens en masse.
They will have nothing (literally) to lose but defend their country, no matter the cost.
