# Russia may be about to invade Ukraine. {Russia has invaded as of Feb 24-2022} **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [April 9, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-may-be-about-to-invade-ukraine-russia-has-invaded-as-of-feb-24-2022/939699 "2021-04-09T20:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 344
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-may-be-about-to-invade-ukraine-russia-has-invaded-as-of-feb-24-2022/939699/344 "2022-02-04T15:00:54Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Ukraine has been culturally linked to Russia by religion and by similar Slavic languages and ethnicity since the 12th century. It spent two centuries under Tsarist rule, and 70 years under Soviet rule. The vast majority of Ukrainians fought on the Russian side in both WW1 and WW2. This is a total misrepresentation. Ukrainians were forcibly relocated (when not ethnically cleansed) by the Russians several times, including during WWII. And while it’s true that Russian colonists have infested the eastern part of Ukraine (after, you know, getting rid of ethnic Ukrainians), the western half is made up of a majority ethnically Ukrainian peoples who aren’t all that fond of Russians, nor look back on their experience under the Russian boot with particular glad feelings and good thoughts. > [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Do you think it might be conceivable that they understand Russia, their own country, and the current situation a little better than you do? Yeah, they probably do understand the folks who cleansed them and oppressed them better than, say, some guys posting on the internet…especially those trying to say that Russia is Ukraine’s is ‘their own country’. > [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Recently they have been dealing with the Crimean situation, and the situation in Donesk and Luhansk. Gee, I wonder why that might be?? Could it be because those are mainly ethnic Russian majority regions that have the direct assistance of Russia and have been fighting with the Ukrainians for years now…except the part that was annexed illegally by Russia of course?? I think you are misinterpreting WHY many Ukrainians are ‘meh’ about what’s going on, even assuming that’s true (I’ve seen reports where quite a few Ukrainian civilians have been requesting at least rudimentary training in defending themselves…not exactly ‘meh’ to me). Basically, I see it more as fatalistic…sort of like how the average Taiwanese downplays the Chinese invasion threat. It’s a defense mechanism. It’s not because they really think that Russia is ‘their own country’ and that there isn’t a threat, it’s more than there is little they can do and they HOPE that Russia will just go away and leave them in peace. Their political leaders are obviously trying to downplay things in the media and are probably hoping that a conciliatory line will help them with Moscow and perhaps prevent them from striking…and if it doesn’t work, they are setting things up so that it won’t be their fault, but Moscow’s, as they were downplaying the risk. The key point there is…Ukraine isn’t telling countries to stop sending them all of that military aid and equipment. If they REALLY thought this wasn’t a thing then they would do that, since that’s one of the major sore points with Russia. They also aren’t telling Russia ‘you know what, we really don’t want to be in NATO after all because we don’t see any sort of threat’…again, something that if they did it would lower the risk of an invasion substantially. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-may-be-about-to-invade-ukraine-russia-has-invaded-as-of-feb-24-2022/939699)._