I don't think it matters if you are pro or anti Putin ...more if he is pro / anti you!
That seems to sum it up - we are probably seeing the results of internecine warfare between various factions. Putin's Russia has long been described as a gangster state, and in that context this method of settling differences is entirely normal. What is less easy to understand is how anyone thinks Ukraine (or anyone else) could usefully negotiate agreements with a state that uses murder as a tool of government. And yet we have to somehow share the planet with these people, knowing that it is vanishingly unlikely that when Putin goes his replacement will be able to change things for the better - even if he wants to. The link in Post No. 14677 gives little hope.