So they went to Ukraine to gain what? At the expense of what?
How would you explain why they brutally attacked Ukraine without coming to the conclusion of them being exactly what you described?
Whether you like that answer or not, has no bearing on whether the cartoon-character in your head reflects reality. It clearly doesn't.
This is just such a dumb take, even the mafia bosses running the show don't believe that.
Let alone Ukraine not being in NATO at all.
Also I remember the rhetoric being about denazification, so apparently every russian nationalist has a different story they push.
Interesting cause the victory article they accidentally posted then quickly deleted didn’t even mention NATO once.
But do you know what it did talk about?, the tragedy of Ukrainian independence and fixing that historical “mistake” of 1991.
That sounds more like imperialism than wanting a buffer state to me.
Thats a different question entirely to who blew up the dam and why.
Also it's crystal clear that if russia had not illegally invaded Ukraine no-one would have blown up the dam.