KYIV CITY, Ukraine — Today's Why Guy question from Nick Jarrell, who asks "maybe I missed it, I miss a lot, but I still don't know why Putin invaded Ukraine."
Nick, it's complicated of course, that much is true. Russian President Vladimir Putin has never acknowledged Ukraine as a separate country after it split from the then Soviet Union in 1991.
Some feel Putin is trying to get the Soviet band back together and Ukraine is next step. However, Putin has sold his attack by saying Ukraine is too cozy with the west and poses a threat to Russia.
Putin starting nipping at Ukraine's heels in 2014 by seizing Ukraine's southern region of Crimea in what now looks like a test run to see what he could get away with. A similar Russian invasion of Georgia happened in 2008.
Putin felt confident enough a month ago that he went all in on Ukraine in what he expected to be quick work and it hasn't. But's he hasn't called it a war, instead saying it’s a "special military operation."
"It is not our plan to occupy the Ukrainian territory. We do not intend to impose anything on anyone by force," Putin said during a recent address.
Well, it's force he's using in and on Ukraine. If there's a ceasefire and Russia pulls out of Ukraine, it remains to be seen if Russia's president can claim a win and if anything has been gained as to what Ukraine is or isn't allowed to do by Russia going forward.
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