When Putin invaded Ukraine last year, I believed he was trying to return all of the former Soviet republics to Russia’s orbit but his actions in Ukraine proved me wrong. Putin has no territorial ambitions other than the 12-14% of pre-war Ukrainian controlled territory he has already annexed except for western Donetsk oblast. In fact, Putin’s preference was to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine in which they agreed to accept permanent neutrality outside of NATO and only annexed Kherson and Zaparazhia oblasts after Ukraine refused all of Russia’s peace offers from February-September 2022 to withdraw all Russian troops from Ukraine with the exception of the Donbass region.

--- David Pyne (Deputy Director of National Operations for the Task Force on National and Homeland Security)

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