Quote:
Originally Posted by qwe
1. Do you really think that if Russia wanted to take over Ukraine it would take them years to do it? With systems like Topol-M's which can fly over thousands of miles and destroy America and there is no defense against it (just an example of what type of weapons available), but Russia is fighting for over a year in Ukraine and they're not even in Kiev yet ? really?
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Russia could take Ukraine in a heartbeat if they wanted to. However, if they did, they would face the wrath of the other nations condemning their actions and risk facing even more sanctions.
Instead they support the movement by supplying it with arms, weapons, vehicles, money, intelligence, and in some cases men. This gives them some form of deniability while scoring political points for it with the population back home.
Although I don't see the end game for Russia. Great, they can take back some territory from Ukraine. It's not valuable or strategic, and the short term political victory they get for this will be greatly outweighed by their ability to fund and support Eastern Ukraine.