Abstract
This chapter, written from a legal and historical perspective, contains the following. First, since the war started in 2014 with the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia, some of the complex issues surrounding the history and fate of the peninsula are dissected. Second, an international law perspective is explored. Third, since Kant is so often presented as delusionary, his excoriation of British colonialism is referred to; he would write the same for Russian colonialism. Fourth, it is shown that Putin’s own mind-set and ideology are crucial to the decision carried out on 24 February 2022. Fifth, in considering Russia’s relations with and attitudes to Ukraine over centuries, there is much to be learnt from an examination of England’s, then Britain’s, bloody relations with Ireland.
