I'm not saying we should discount Putin's viewpoint and others like him, it is after all one of the very few tools we've got to analyse what he'll do. But just because we acknowledge Putin's viewpoint doesn't mean we agree with him, or that we should allow him to act unchallenged. It is his viewpoint that Ukraine is not a real nation without Russia, and thus has no right to making their own choices for their own country. It is our (including Ukraine's) viewpoint that Ukraine is an independent and sovereign nation with the right to enter economic and military alliances if it so desires. And what's happening in Ukraine at the moment is the result of the clash of those viewpoints. Ukrainians are dying for their nation, and the West is assisting Ukraine while hoping Putin isn't too far gone to just press the button.

Putin said that Russia does not need a world if Russia is not in it. The West is saying they're not okay with a militaristic expansionist nuclear-threatening Russia in the world. I tend to agree with the West's viewpoint, even knowing what may ultimately come from it.