Originally Posted by
highflyer40
But should war BE avoided? Russia has invaded a sovereign country. Surely it should be that countries moral obligation to do everything they can to reunite and retake their country?
You can listen to the arguments about how these people are ethnic Russians. But that doesn’t hold water. If they want to be Russian they can move to Russia. Taking the Crimea as a case in point, only 60% of the population were ethnic Russians, and only about 60-70% of those supported annexation so less than half the region wanted this.
The problem with your argument is that this is not just about ethnic Russians, it is about Russian speaking Ukrainians. They may be ethnic Russian but they are still Ukrainian or were, as they are all deemed terrorists by the Ukrainian government. So to allude to your percentages: in 2014 there were 60% ethnic Russians, 30% odd Ukrainians and the rest made of Tartars and odds and ends. Now the real number to check is that 89% were Russian speaking and it is this Russian speaking component that voted to re-unite, not just the ethnic Russians. Do you really think that Crimea would not be the same as Donbas today, if they had not re-united?
As to the invasion, check how many Ukrainian units, in Crimea, changed sides after the new, unelected government came to power in Ukraine. If only all invasions were so bloodless!