what are you talking about

The DPR and LPR are legit unrecognized states that declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 the same time Crimea did, they just never ended up joining Russia. They've held their own elections since then and everything (eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Donbas_general_elections).

Pres Zelensky started raising the alarm abt Putin coming back to annex the remaining separatist territories last year:
https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-sees-russias-issuance-passports-eastern-ukraine-step-towards-annexation-2021-05-20/

Any invasion and annexation concern coming out of Ukraine has always been abt Donbas. This narrative that Putin's trying to annex all of Ukraine is an artifact of the West. Putin's an imperialist but he's not a dumbass. He didn't even try annexing all of Ukraine when he invaded and annexed Crimea, so why would that be his objective now with Donbas as he faces even greater hostility from the West?

Separate from the Donbas issue, Putin's broader problem with Ukraine/Ukraine's gov/Kyiv is 100% about NATO; he's openly established Ukraine joining NATO (and any further NATO expansion) as a red line. Again, this is him saying so in no uncertain terms last week after (failed) talks with Macron:

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2022/02/08/5984255003370174117/960x540_MP4_5984255003370174117.mp4


That imo is what all the positioning around Ukraine (that's been plastered all over the news) is about, to serve as the ultimate deterrent. But Putin also seems to be exploiting the NATO issue to advance his territorial interests, since the positioning around Ukraine can be multi-purposed to fend off Western countermeasures if he annexes.


What the US and its media have done is conflate all these issues and establish a countering red line of (poorly defined) "invasion", so now even if Putin only tries to annex Donbas - which, just like Crimea, the DPR and LPR actually want - the US will treat it like an annexation of all of Ukraine even tho Russia's annexation of Donbas would be as inconsequential to world affairs as the annexation of Crimea.

That's the unnecessary escalation from the West, imo. Pres Zelensky not wanting to lose Donetsk/DPR and Luhansk/LPR to Russia is understandable, bc what Head of State wants to lose territory under their watch. But in the grand scheme of things, all of these regions - Crimea, Donetsk/DPR, Luhansk/LPR - they are the equivalent of toenail clippings to Ukraine. They are NOT worth risking nuclear war or any other escalated human and economic waste. Zelensky has signaled he knows this by stating willingness to hold a nationwide referendum on Donbas or negotiate a (new) peace deal (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-president-does-not-exclude-holding-referendum-crimea-donbass-2021-12-10/), meaning the disputed territories would prob serve as a bargaining chip to get Putin to chill about NATO. Ukraine has been the only cool-headed state actor in all of this.

My gripe with our leaders in the West is this: Why not simply stall this mf out. Putin is a 70yr old man with alleged health problems lol. With any luck, he's probably not going to head Russia for much longer (tho he signed a constitutional amendment into law so that allows him to remain pres until he's almost 90yrs old - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vladimir-putin-president-russia-signs-law-allowing-2-more-presidential-terms/).LET HIM have Ukraine's toenail clippings. Has nobody contemplated that Ukraine could simply join NATO after this madman is no longer running Russia? He's literally amending Russia's constitution so he doesn't miss out on the opportunity to destroy us, like come on smh


>
>this is all putin. it has nothing to do with ukraine joining
>nato. or bombings in donbas. or whatever else russia says
>(and people still fall for it lol).
>