Unfortunately, it is early morning in Ukraine and there are reports and video now of Russian's booming the capital of Ukraine already. Most likely targeted spots for communication, military, police, airfields... This goes opposite of Russia saying they would stay just in their made up "break away" regions. So Russia is already attacking central Ukraine.
Putin has become the 21st century mad man. Our era's Hitler. He is taking over a sovereign country just for the sake of it. Russian media is creating false narratives saying that Ukraine is a threat to Russia's sovereignty and that Ukraine is full of Nazi's. I am not making this up. Russian media and their government officials are pushing this narrative.
ArticleIf you think Russia will stop with Ukraine, you will be surprised. They will go for more. Poland, Baltics, etc...
But at the same time, I view this as a short term win for Russia but long term loss. This is the beginning of Putin's decline. He may be successful early on taking space, but good luck holding on to it, especially in the cities. The Ukrainian's are going to fight like hell. Sanctions will eventually cripple the Russian economy even more (over 50% of Russia's economy is purely from selling energy), and when the sanctions hit the wallets of the Russian people, they will get fed up with this. Hopefully cause a revolution for democracy themselves.
But I don't think this should be downplayed,
@MasterXtreme. This very well could be the start of a global war. If he takes Ukraine, he is on the doorstep of NATO Countries and Putin does want Poland, Estonia, Latvia, etc.