Most pundits were taken by surprise by Putin’s attack on Ukraine. Few saw it coming
Still, a clear statement of what matters to Russia was made already 2007, in the below speech by Putin:
There are remarkable similarities with this contemporary ignorance on global geopolitics, with that of WW2, where the pundits of the 1930:ies failed to see what was coming, despite it been clearly explained and written down in Mein Kampf.
Why don’t people ever learn….? The brave but unfortunate Ukrainians got caught up in a proxy war between the ever expanding Globalist West vs. the coming new world order of Russia & China…
systems perestroika - éminence grise 
What an intriguing video. Everyone should watch this if they want to understand the early context of contemporary Russian-Western relations and consider potential missed opportunities.
What a mess…
Yes. I find it interesting that most people are unable to distinguish between the *moral* aspect of the war – Russia is clearly in error having started the war – from the *reason* Russia started the war. IMO, this is not a war between Russia and Ukraine, but yet one more proxy war between Russia and the Western powers.