OPINION: Putin’s ‘blood and soil’ speech revealed war was never about NATO — a breakdown
By Ethan Kaiser | Mar. 2In the early morning of Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war against Ukraine, phrased as a “special military operation.” Just two days before, Putin recognized two breakaway regions in Eastern Ukraine bordering Russia: Donetsk and Luhansk. These two areas have been the sight of civil war, with portions of the two regions under Russian-backed separatist control. But instead of recognizing just the separatist controlled regions as independent republics, Putin opted to recognize the whole region, even those under Ukrainian control, as parts of the “republics.”
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