Do you still stand with Ukraine?
From Quora
Since day 1 of the Russian invasion—and this was in February 2014 in Crimea, not in February 2022—I stand with Ukraine.
For a long time, I wasn’t into politics: my interests were about home, work, family.
It was the Russian attack against Georgia in August 2008 that made me realize how dangerous the Russian leadership was. And before that—without even being interested in politics—I realized that Putin-Medvedev switch was wrong (with Putin taking the position of the Prime Minister and head of Government, while Medvedev was installed as the President of Russia).
But it was the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea that colored the geopolitical world into black and white, with no space for the shades of gray, for me.
I have contacts both in Ukraine and Russia, and the majority of Russians completely misunderstood what was happening.
After capturing Crimea in February 2014 and hastily announcing it annexed in March 2014 (I describe the story in detail in my book), Putin sent troops into Donbas in April 2014. His troops were stopped—and it looked like Ukraine was about to kick out the Russians from the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, and this is where Putin’s goons shot down a passenger plane over East Ukraine and the world was sent into shock. This is where western leaders convinced Ukraine to enter a ceasefire.
The next 8 years Putin spent brainwashing the Russians into believing that Ukraine was fair game, and they should own it.
Putin did try to take over the area to the left of Dnipro River in 2014—he wasn’t successful. He realized he needed more troops and more time to prepare. He was accumulating munitions, equipment, and training troops for 8 years.
He still failed.
Ukraine will never be Russia.
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