>>65591576defending it from what? russia had been picking on ukraine fucking obviously and blatantly since 2014 and all they did was try to finish the job (that they had themselves started).
what putin was fucking afraid of was the fact ukraine was turning towards the EU and its quality of life was going to become far superior to that of the average russian's, and he didn't want his own citizens to notice, wake up and start asking questions about how things really are going for them vs the north korea tier propaganda copium world they're presented. he's butthurt almost all of eastern europe doesn't want to be buds with russia anymore and after already losing poland, baltics etc he was clinging to "at least we still have ukraine on our side ... right ... " and he didn't want to live with the reality that no, they would also prefer hanging with the EU if given the choice. it would undermine his entire view on life and make him contemplate maybe russia is not actually that powerful or respected anymore and this was something his KGB brainwashed ass literally could not stand to live with.
