Putin has explicitly stated on several occasions that he considers Ukraine a part of Russia and that the dissolution of the USSR was a tragedy that should never have happened.
A few things.
1 - Lugansk and Donetsk only "declared their independence" after an extremely overt operation by Russia to install and fund Russian separatists in the region. They are effectively astro-turf organisations that exist entirely as a consequence of Russia. It is hardly surprising that these areas suddenly "totally democratically" elected to become unofficial parts of Russia following
them being taken over by separatists armed and supported by Russia at Russia's orders.
en.wikipedia.org
Russian soldiers captured in eastern Ukraine crossed the border "by accident", Russian sources say, as a key summit is held in Belarus.
www.bbc.co.uk
2 - Crimea was militarily invaded by Russia. See above. As Russia has repeatedly revealed in their own elections, any genuinely "democratic" component of any vote taking place under any Russian occupied territory is suspect, to say the least.
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
3 - There was no "coup" against Yanukovich. He was democratically elected, yes, but then proceeded to reject an EU trade agreement that had been in the works for years and instead adopt stronger economic ties with Russia
at the urging of Russia - something that was apparently extremely unpopular with the people of Ukraine because it lead to mass protests against Yanukovich (combined with his criminal prosecution of the opposition leader at the time). In response, Yanukovich signed a slieu of anti-protest laws which directly lead to police killing several protesters. In consequence to the reaction, he fled
to Russia.
en.wikipedia.org
Seems like some
pretty important stuff to miss out. It's almost as if you're being dishonest.
Tell me, why did you decide to miss out all of these obviously very important details and present an extremely pro-Russia version of these events?
You're seriously going to compare the claims of election fraud in 2020 - something that
despite the election being thoroughly vetted and investigated several times by numerous agencies produced no evidence of fraud - to the referendums in
Russian occupied territory carried out by Russian separatists and overseen by Russia that has had absolutely zero transparency and has never been investigated by any independent agencies?
Are you serious?
That's a funny way of saying "Russian-backed and funded insurgency".
It's definitely a threat to Ukraine.
It is if Russia's expanding influence means America's influence shrinks.
Not that it really matters. Ukraine should be protected.
How are you not getting this? Russia isn't engaging in peace talks. Until Russia is actually willing to engage in peace talks, what are we supposed to do? Allow them to rape and kill Ukrainians and take control of the whole country?