It seems like Putin wants to regain all / most of the lands that were in the USSR.
It would be based on nostalgia and dreams for Russia to take on the greatness that the USSR had when he was a young man.
It would be based on nostalgia and dreams for Russia to take on the greatness that the USSR had when he was a young man.
More people dead (civilians and soldiers from Ukraine) -- would just make Putin feel more proud and important himself. The opposite to how "normal" people's brains work.
(Some others here believing Russia feels "threatened" by the EU and Nato, fundamentally don't understand how people like Putin function. Such things are just what Putin says to mislead the masses. There's no noble or ethical reasons for what Putin is doing -- it's just a machiavellian person having fun, from his perspective. Or making himself less bored.)