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There are still people who believe that today. It all depends on what you want to believe. People believe that Russia was forced into this, people believe that Ukranians secretly long to be liberated and saved. People will believe the most crazy stuff.

Absolutely, feel free to peruse my comment history for examples right here on this site.

Zelenskyy himself was telling people to calm down with the invasion rhetoric, indicating that there is no evidence of an imminent invasion, and that the rhetoric is counter productive.

Personally, I thought Putin would establish a stronghold in the Donbas and gradually improve position from there. This full on assault of the entire country is shocking and seems wildly aggressive and overly ambitious.

I originally thought that Putin was trolling Ukraine and West with this buildup for the sake of winning some concessions.

I knew it wasn’t just trolling because there are much, much easier ways to do that than moving tens of thousands of troops into a new arena.

For trolling you’d do something flashier but much easier, like fighter flyovers or a missile launch.