Biden apparently invites Russia to a little incursion into Ukraine but he tells Russia not to go to far, or else
Strange way to deter Russia and must alarm NATO and the EU
Wasn't he referring to the last incursion into Crimea which also happened on his watch as VP.
Mind you, "I don't mind if you peacefully take the Russian homelands to the East and leave the rest of Ukraine alone", although it smacks of appeasement, it might be the safest current option.
Who decides on where these 'Russian homelands' are ?
And don't these 'Russian homelands' exist in other countries ?
Ukraine is of existential importance to Russia for a few reasons. Even its name comes from the Old Slavonic equivalents of the preposition 'y' (by) and the noun 'край' (region) giving the figurative meaning of frontier. In Putin's post-Soviet chauvinist Russian nationalism Ukraine is a central part of the Russian cultural demos.
Russia defensive strategy has depended on defence in depth and, for good or ill, Ukraine has provided that since the time of The Great. Since 2014 it's become apparent to Putin that keeping Ukraine out NATO is one thing but Western military and political influence over Ukraine has increased dramatically despite their detached relationship with the alliance.
Ukraine agreed to the 2015 Minsk Accords at the barrel of a gun and don't particularly feel bound by it. Maybe Frosty negotiated it for them.
Dragging Ukraine firmly back into the orbit of Russia is Putin's legacy project and if he can't do that he'll dismember it into a collection of failing statelets.
And you can hardly claim as part of your 'cultural demos' a nation which appears increasingly willing to fight the invasion which will be required to drag it back into Russia' orbit, despite facing rather daunting odds.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor
And you can hardly claim as part of your 'cultural demos' a nation which appears increasingly willing to fight the invasion which will be required to drag it back into Russia' orbit, despite facing rather daunting odds.