Since 2014 with the fall of the government pro Russian, Russia has started a war against Ukraine, but only recently that a large-scale action. The question that remains is: “Why only now that Putin took action?”.
The answer to this is not simple, there are several reasons such as:
- A weak government by Joe Biden, with a disastrous exit from Afghanistan.
- More aggressive rhetoric from Zelensky and NATO.
- Economic crisis because of the pandemic affecting Putin's popularity in Russia.
- Speech by Joe Biden who says the US would not send troops if Russia invaded Ukraine.
- Etc…
A war only starts when both parties fail diplomatically, I know that Russia's demands were very high, but they are a military and nuclear power... You don't have much choice but to act amicably with a neighbor that has nuclear capability, Zelensky could at least less give in on certain parts and and try new deals for the rest.
Perhaps Zelensky's bet was to be saved by nato and europeans, but due to russia's military capacity, europe preferred not to interfere directly...
To be honest, I believe that neither the United States of America nor Europe believed that Russia would invade Ukraine, because it took 8 years to prepare… They didn't send troops or weapons.
Now, unfortunately, just pray that there are no more victims and that they can sign a peace agreement.