Bottom line: Russia doesn't want NATO countries on their border....

Bottom line: Russia doesn't want NATO countries on their border. A neutral Ukraine would be fine, but not a Ukraine which is a member of NATO. NATO countries, being as WOKE as they are is anathema to Putin's Russia, and I don't blame him. The USA didn't want Soviet missiles in Cuba (on its border), so the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia don't want NATO on its border, so the Ukraine Crisis. That's the large part of it, plus the fact that Ukraine is uber corrupt. Putin is killing both those birds with one stone.

Putin's goal is to keep Russia safe, not to make it "Great Again".