Russian Ukraine War

[mateinone]

Ukraine are big into exporting Agriculture products, they are a major supplier in the world for a few products in some cases and its worth a lot of money.
Putin though wants more than that and he wants to be a war hero like Stalin or a big name winner like Brezhnev who presided over Cold war Russia which is an era Putin admired. Ukraine has the export resources appeal for the money but also had the advantage of being a non NATO country which made it appear a safer easier target on paper.

I agree that there is a legacy part to this invasion and it is a significant part. Russia's greatest ever hero is Peter the Great, Putin references his often and he is universally admired within Russia. There is absolutely no doubt at all that his aim is to be seen in the same light as Peter. Though it would be interesting if he was ever given the title of "great" as Russia already has a Vladimir the Great. It is important though to not discount the money element as it is also extremely significant, whilst average Russians, Ukrainians and Belorussians live poorly, the elite live incredible lives and their wealth is absolutely staggering, there are kickbacks at every single level of government and this needs to be paid for, so money they were bringing in from Ukraine was extremely significant in my opinion