That's what he made it look like, or at least that's the possibility I'm leaving open...
& this "war" started in 2014...
Discussion
Some westerners have a serious hollywood movie level misunderstanding of Russia and how it operates. They view Putin as an all powerful dictator character from the 1980s USSR, when his authority in current Russia is only partial, and always at risk from other factions of the oligarchy. And when it comes to Ukraine, their ridiculous overlooking of CIA activity in Ukraine starting in 2013, and the RAND Reports describing how the Pentagon could provoke a civil war between western Ukrainian nazis, and Eastern Russian speaking Ukrainians, culminating in a possible Russian invasion, is a case example of useful idiocy. What the west has done in, and to Ukraine for their own ends, is just as disgusting and criminal as the Russia invasion. And this time, unlike the last time they did something like this (in Afghanistan in the 80s) it’s going to cost them.
There are plenty of Nazi factions in Russia, too, but assuming that background is valid, what should the Western position be now? Putin himself, on TV, clearly ordered his military to invade a peaceful neighboring country, which borders NATO. The invasion been disastrous for both countries and now there’s a military deadlock and growing chaos in Russia, which is depleting its army in Ukraine. Should the West just…leave? Have we not learned the primary lesson from WWII that we must not appease bullies? Complain all you wish about America, which is legal to do, unlike in Russia, but please suggest solutions, too.