i’ll admit i am a novice to this dispute and am learning as we go but I really have a hard time understanding any of OP’s points. Ukraine made a political decision to align itself with the western world. no one in the western world and no one in ukraine was an actual physical threat to russia. russia could have given ukraine a better deal than the west and tried to win their favor. instead, it decided to erase the country from the face of the world. how is that not a war crime? the only excuse i heard from the russians is that “well ukraine is not really a free, independent country anyway. it should be part of russia anyway.” that sounds like literal crazy speak. its like if mexico opened war on the usa because of texas.
