The Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised a lot of concerns in the West, not least among them the possibility of Russia gaining control over the Ukraine. The invasion was a big threat to Ukraine’s security and many Ukrainians are against it. In fact, a recent poll conducted by the University of Chicago showed that 97 percent of Ukrainians thought that the Russian invasion threatened their security and would like Russia to pay for what it’s done.

Despite the escalating violence, Russia has been unable to capture any major Ukrainian cities. Its ill-prepared military has been slowed down by the tenacious resistance of Ukrainian soldiers and civilian resistance fighters. Russian president Vladimir Putin has made it clear that his ultimate goal is to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. This is part of the plan to destabilize the democratically elected Ukrainian government and subsume it into its orbit.

The future of Ukraine depends on the outcome of this war. Although Russia is attempting to save face and salvage some geopolitical wreckage, the odds of long-term Russian protectorate seem dwindling. Ultimately, the outcome of the war will depend on how the West responds and whether Ukrainians are willing to fight for a nation that Putin believes should not exist.

Ukraine and Russia have been presenting the Soviet era as a dark period. In contrast, Russia has been engaging in a difficult exercise of critical thinking of its own past – during the perestroika period and the beginning of the 1990s. In his attempt to re-create Lenin’s Ukraine, Putin has been using false claims to build a nation.