it could very well be as you say. even though he did try to take kiev in the first days of war.

that still does not give him right to wage war over non-russian territory. 

I don't think so, but people have different perspectives on this.

My understanding is that the conflict is over provinces adjacent to Russia. That's primarily for access to the Russian naval base in Crimea, but it's also about who controls the ethnically Russian provinces.

Some expect that Russia is trying to conquer the entirety of Ukraine and then continue on into other parts of eastern Europe. I don't think that's right, but I'll acknowledge that if it were, Putin's not going to just announce that to the world.

Undisciplined

but isn't the conflict with all of Ukraine?

Msd0457890

Politics_And_Law

Will Trump End Washington’s Proxy War in Ukraine? | The Libertarian Institute

My expectation is that they will end the conflict with the ethnically Russian provinces no longer part of Ukraine.