"We will not stop at Kyiv, Warsaw, Paris. We will stop when we feel secure."
What is security for Russia? The destruction of NATO?
Russia has been living in "counteraction and struggle" with external "bad enemies" for a very long time. This is how the Russian government consolidates society and explains all the problems to it.
It's why I imagine the Russian government has been trying to frame this as "self-defense" to its own people, when it's clearly the opposite.
They know that people will go to extreme lengths to fight when they believe they're fighting defensively, for their own people, sovereignty, safety, etc. To that end, it won't matter if they can realistically defeat NATO- they just want their own people to die trying.
While I hear what you're saying I have yet to witness where did the Ukrainian people strike in Russian land.
Also, where are we in that "fight against satanistic nazis" story? Does anybody in Russia truly believes that shit, or are they just applying their centuries old coward self-defense skills against tyrant?
From the Russian point of view, Russian speaking Ukrainians are their fellow citizens. The Russians claim Ukraine is mistreating them and invade to protect "Russians" in DPR/LPR. It's total bullshit, but it fits Russian's desire to be seen as both victims and heroes in their own psychodrama about the war.
From the Russian point of view, Russian speaking Ukrainians are their fellow citizens
But they also see Ukrainians as less-than compared to ethnic Russians. No minority in Russia is truly counted as "real" Russian, and they even have a separate word for "Russians who aren't ethnic Russians": россияне or rossiyane, where the word for "real" Russians is русский or russkiy.