they'll annex Basarabia like they did in 1812 and again in 1940, to restore the 'glorious' Russian empire of the 19th century
How far into Ukraine do you think they would manage/are likely to go? Odessa oblast has some Russian ethics, but I'm not at all sure they are enough to allow for the kind of dynamics that took place further East.
And if Russia can't/doesn't want to hold Odessa, it will definitely not go as far as Basarabia.
With the caveat that my knowledge of Ukraine is rather weak (I've only been to Kiev once), my best guess it that they won't be able to conquer all of it - Ukraine is huge, so eventually I think it would be split it into two parts.
Within Ukraine there's a decent divide between those who are pro Russian in the south and those who would like to retain the Ukrainian language and culture, mostly in the north, so it wouldn't surprise me if Russia manages to retain the southern part, but ends up having trouble with North-Western Ukraine.
That said, this isn't a game of Civ and I hope the Ukrainian people won't have to go through that horror.
The previous Iron Curtain territory (there was a reason for it). They'd like to push control up to the Carpathian mountains to give a huge military power concentration boost. Their legitimate completely flat border from Estonia to the Sea of Azov is a tough dispersal in bad times. This would only happen under worst case scenario of global disarray.
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How far into Ukraine do you think they would manage/are likely to go? Odessa oblast has some Russian ethics, but I'm not at all sure they are enough to allow for the kind of dynamics that took place further East.
And if Russia can't/doesn't want to hold Odessa, it will definitely not go as far as Basarabia.
With the caveat that my knowledge of Ukraine is rather weak (I've only been to Kiev once), my best guess it that they won't be able to conquer all of it - Ukraine is huge, so eventually I think it would be split it into two parts.
Within Ukraine there's a decent divide between those who are pro Russian in the south and those who would like to retain the Ukrainian language and culture, mostly in the north, so it wouldn't surprise me if Russia manages to retain the southern part, but ends up having trouble with North-Western Ukraine.
That said, this isn't a game of Civ and I hope the Ukrainian people won't have to go through that horror.
The previous Iron Curtain territory (there was a reason for it). They'd like to push control up to the Carpathian mountains to give a huge military power concentration boost. Their legitimate completely flat border from Estonia to the Sea of Azov is a tough dispersal in bad times. This would only happen under worst case scenario of global disarray.