So you are a mind reader now?

Of course Putin lies. But showhow you draw the conclusion that because he lies, everything he says is a lie, or that you can invent whatever motives you want for him.

Saddam Hussein was also a first class liar. Bush and Cheney used that as an argument to claim he had WMDs. Where they right? Nope. Just because somebody lies a lot doesn't somehow validate whatever claims you make.

Look at the facts, rather than what you want to believe. What triggered this whole thing happened back in 2014. That is 8 years ago. Putin spent all that time on a pretty low level proxy war.

If Putin had grand ambissions about recreating the Russian empire, then he would have moved a lot faster. Why wait a whole 8 years before conquering all of Ukraine if that was the plan all along?

Or why not do it even earlier? Putin invaded Grozny almost 28 years ago, as they tried to break away.

If Putin's amibtion was to recreate the Russian empire then he doesn't get very far by invading one country every 8-10 years. The guy is 69. His time is running out.