Originally Posted by
jolihokistix
Donbas is nice to have of course, a primary safety cushion along the border, so it’s not just an excuse, but yes, no amount of Russian lipstick will beautify this monster pig they are trying to create.
A land grab is a land grab is a land grab.
I invite you to check out the last 3 minutes of the Austrian colonel's excellent briefing, which has to do with which regions of Ukraine are its economic engine. (Go up ten or twenty posts).
Is Ukraine about to have a war?
A lot of the areas the Russians want to consolidate control of represent a substantial fraction of GDP for Ukraine's grain and other resource production, not to mention the substantial industrial city of Mariupol already lost.