Proposals had been made to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine to allow for attacking any non-nuclear state that had the participation or support of a nuclear state, Putin said.
Proposals had been made to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine to allow for attacking any non-nuclear state that had the participation or support of a nuclear state, Putin said.
Aside from nationalistic pride, there are several practical reasons:
Azof sea + Crimean peninsula are a natural chockepoint for Russia’s exports from the river Don, basically all Russia’s black sea inports and exports pass though there
Donbass is incredibly rich in mineral resources
Ukraine’s ports are where the largest Soviet Union ships were built, Russia can’t build larger frigades/aircraft carriers without Ukraine’s facilities (mainly Mykolaiv port I believe).
The dominance over the black sea is extremely important for Russia, as it may affect both its nuclear deterrence and its control over Georgia which opens the gates to central asia (yes Turkey is in Nato but it plays its own game)
Also consider that Russia started the war hoping for a quick ukrainian capitulation, so they would have absorbed the hugely important ukrainian aerospace industry, and its massive farming industry.
They probably ‘just’ want the Donbass and the coast now, so the last point is no longer relevant, but it played a role in deciding to push forward with the invasion.
Thank you for highlighting the major political motivation