If you call them proxy warriors then I think you side with Russia. How could they find the will to fight if they were just fighting for Nato? Putin has made it very clear; he wants all of Ukraine and will not be stopping the war.
The "will" on the part of the Ukrainians can be very real , doesn't mean that for the The Empire it's a proxy war. You know young men fight, often on false premises. You know there's forced enscriptions, and there are massive defections, AWOLs, from the front line. Surely from the other side as well, but it's mostly on the losing side where you're doing essentially suicide missions and you know it. Some Ukie generals have stepped down for this reason.
Putin has NOT made clear that he wants the whole of Ukraine. Both in speech and in deed. He's not stopping the war because it makes zero strategic sense. Do a ceasefire and it will just be a period of rearmament. He wants to put in on paper, he wants NATO to offer guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO. Now the demands have gotten tougher, no EU membership either because the EU is not just about trade agreements, it is hostile to Russia. Without considering morals and ethics, what Russia is doing is completely RATIONAL from their POV.
Like I said, I don't have an emotional attachements to neither Russia or Ukraine. I'm just doing a VERY amateur assessment based on everything I've read. I should have an automatic anti-Russian stance being Finnish. Plus Ukraine has these Nazis in charge, and I'm sort of of the opinion that WWII mainstream description of it isn't exactly correct from several angles Russia is a multiracial and multiethnic country and I don't believe in multiracialism.
You have that Ukrainian gf. You are British and your country is extremely hostime towards Russia, seems this conflict is priority, Starmer's top priority is this conflict, neglecting everything domestic. What other conflicts of interests do you have, what's your relationship towards Jews since you have an obvious pro-Israel stance?
EDIT: now I remember you were Irish right? Sorry.
I know my posts are probably TL;DR for most, but I just want to be clear and I'd love to hear your opinions as well
