Far as I have heard, Ukraine was the industrial and agricultural backbone of USSR.
Beyond that, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics, notably on Ukraine. They see Ukraine as a key political necessity for resurrecting the power structure that they see as having been lost in the early 90s. Read about UK and US and you’ll see a lot of familiar material there in terms of what Russia has actively worked toward.
Far as I have heard, Ukraine was the industrial and agricultural backbone of USSR.
Beyond that, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics, notably on Ukraine. They see Ukraine as a key political necessity for resurrecting the power structure that they see as having been lost in the early 90s. Read about UK and US and you’ll see a lot of familiar material there in terms of what Russia has actively worked toward.