Westerners will say that Putin wants to invade Ukraine to take the Donbas and even more territory from Ukraine. Putin would like to make the same move he did when he annexed Crimea in 2014.


So your question adopts the Western position.

On Vladimir Putin's side, the vision is totally different. Putin considered Crimea to be a part of Russia forever. He, therefore, considers that he has re-established something logical.

For the Donbas, Putin will probably use the same narrative, saying that this territory has always been Russian and that it should therefore become Russian again.

It is all a question of point of view.

Putin may also highlight the fact that he wants to protect himself from a potential membership of Ukraine in NATO. Putin does not want NATO on his borders. Everything starts from there. He wants guarantees.

Putin wants America and the European Union to commit that Ukraine will not join NATO. America and the European Union cannot respond favorably to this request, because it would call into question Ukraine's sovereignty to choose its alliances, but above all, it would be a betrayal of a promise made to Ukraine when the country agreed to get rid of its nuclear arsenal.

As you can see, the situation here is more than complex.

It is hard to see how the current situation could be de-escalated because neither side is willing to make the concessions demanded by the other. The situation is heading towards the worst-case scenario, unfortunately.