# Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion, breaking-news\ **Created:** [February 24, 2022, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037 "2022-02-24T08:30:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5959
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/5959 "2022-05-27T20:59:02Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > The NYT has a good series of maps showing the reduction of Russia’s ambitions in Ukraine (gift article, so should be accessible to all). The writer of the accompanying article seems to think that this likely will be Russia’s last major offensive since they do not have the personnel to do more. I’ll just note this post that I made in January (before the invasion): > [@Russia may be about to invade Ukraine. {Russia has invaded as of Feb 24-2022}](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-may-be-about-to-invade-ukraine-russia-has-invaded-as-of-feb-24-2022/939699/187): > > If Putin wants to take land, it would only be regions with a decent Russian speaking population. In general, he would want to avoid civilian deaths, preferring to take over the East/Southeast, and just kick out anyone who would oppose Russian rule. Nine times out of ten, he’s looking for a fait accompli, not a war. He might rush towards Kiev, to distract the Ukrainian military while the provinces vote to secede and vote the Russian troops in - or whatever - but in general there’s no winner if … I was wrong in my expectation that Putin would try to avoid an outright war. Whether I was right that attacking Kyiv was just a distraction / hail mary pass remains to be proved one way or the other, some decades from now. But certainly it’s imaginable - since I did imagine it - that the battle in the North was never a primary focus of the attack and was, almost purely, a diversion. And, in that sense, the war wouldn’t be shrinking. Maybe it would cover less territory but a million troops across 100 miles of land isn’t more peaceful than a million troops in 20 miles of land. Likewise, if Russia has taken and is holding Melitopol, and Ukraine isn’t attacking it any more, then that would also not be a part of the war at the moment. In that case, the war is shrinking, not because Russia is losing, but because they won that battle and the new border has (for the moment) solidified in that region. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037)._