Ukraine has been co-opted by both Nazis and some very powerful and brutal oligarchs. The former aim to exterminate Russians—something they’ve been doing in Donbass since 2014—while the latter profit from the chaos and foreign aid. In 2022 Russia stepped in to enforce a red line, intending a quick, surgical operation to root out the Nazis and their military capabilities with minimal damage to Ukraine. However, they underestimated the extent to which the Western world would be psyoped into backing the Nazis and the corrupt oligarchs around Zelensky. At this point was too late to back down without being absolutely humiliated.

Russia wasn’t initially prepared for a drawn-out war but adapted quickly—likely with some contingencies in place in case things didn’t go as planned. Meanwhile, Trump has handled the situation fairly reasonably so far.

And before you call me a Putin troll, know that I’ve lived my entire life in Eastern Europe. I have my own reasons to dislike Russia—they occupied my country after World War II and forced us into the USSR’s orbit for 45 years. We’re still dealing with the consequences of that.

Bottom line: there are no winners in war, and it must end so people can stop dying. As for the occupied territories, Ukraine should probably accept that they’re gone. It’s painful to lose land you’ve considered yours for generations, but history is full of such examples. No country in Europe today has its original borders intact. The last 80 years of relative peace gave us the illusion that border realignment was a thing of the past—unfortunately, it isn’t.