On Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 10:31 PM, Mark Baugher wrote: Russia's aim was to take over the entire country. They were marching to Kiev in 2022.If an army is occupying a country with the aim of incorporating it into their empire, then this is obviously a violation of national self determination.
Hey, I know it is only an AI bot summary but...Based on the reportage in The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History by Serhii Plokhy , Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine by Owen Matthews, Ukraine and the Art of Strategy by Lawrence Freedman , Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence by Yaroslav Trofimov , was the Russian war Plan when it invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022, to occupy the entirety of Ukraine? No, the Russian war plan was not to occupy the entirety of Ukraine, but rather to achieve a rapid regime change <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Ukrainian_war#:~:text=The%20Russo%2DUkrainian%20war%20began,Donbas%20region%20against%20Ukraine's%20military.>. Based on the reportage of the four authors, the 2022 invasion was a "special military operation" designed to bypass the need for a full-scale territorial occupation through a lightning strike. Explanation Regime Change, Not Occupation: Serhii Plokhy and Owen Matthews explain that Putin’s plan relied on the assumption that the Ukrainian state would collapse within days. The primary goal was to seize Kyiv, assassinate or remove President Zelensky, and install a pro-Russian puppet government. The "Thunder Run" Strategy: Lawrence Freedman and Yaroslav Trofimov describe the military approach as a series of "thunder runs"—lightly protected armored columns racing toward major cities. This strategy was intended to shock the Ukrainian leadership into surrender rather than engage in a methodical conquest of every province. Underestimation of Resistance: All four authors highlight a catastrophic intelligence failure: the Kremlin believed Russian troops would be welcomed as "liberators" or face minimal resistance. Consequently, they did not commit the massive troop numbers (estimated at 500,000 to 1,000,000) that military doctrine requires for a permanent occupation of a country as large as Ukraine. (As noted here, https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40743 ) Limited Logistic Preparation: Owen Matthews notes in Overreach that Russian forces carried only a few days of supplies and even dress uniforms for a victory parade, further proving they expected a political collapse rather than a prolonged war of territorial conquest. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40849): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40849 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/117833155/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
