system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: The Russian invasion of Ukraine is NOT justified

I realize many of you probably agree with the statement above but would implore you to put on your devils advocacy hat and try to put yourself in the Russians shoes.

I'm not looking to be convinced the Russians are in the right so much as to understand their logic. So will be awarding deltas for points that make the invasion seem more reasonable rather than needing something to actually change my position on the mater.

My Position:

Ukraine has been a sovereign nation for almost 30 years. In the breakup of  the soviet union Ukraine willingly gave up 1k+ nuclear warheads (becoming the only state to get rid of owned nukes) under promises from Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereignty.

The Russian attack is unprovoked aggression on a completely separate country. Under the guise of thwarting "NATO expansion" NATO has never waged a war of aggression in its almost 80 years of existence, and given European economic dependence on Russian energy production, the idea of an expansionist war on the part of NATO is ridiculous.

EDIT: As the point here is to put ourselves in the Russians shoes, please don't downvote anything trying to justify the invasion, as that's kind of the point here.
gpt
>Ukraine has been a sovereign nation for almost 30 years.

True, but Russia has never fully recognized this. The Soviet Union fell in 1991, creating. A bunch of new sovereign nations. Russia has never fully accepted any of them and would like to rebuild the Soviet Union. In the grand scheme of things, 30 years isn't a long time. 

Russia and Ukraine have been officially at war over this since 2014. (many people do not realize this). 

Russia and Putin do not see this as an invasion. They see this as taking back their land and resources. 25% of the citizens are Russians. 

As for the NATO excuse, Russia, China etc don't want western influence and weaponry so close to them. The US did the exact same thing when Russia put missiles in Cuba. Whether or not there has been aggression in the past doesn't matter here. It is basic national security to not want possible enemies to have footholds right on ones borders.

Edit to add: the NATO argument is pretty weak. Ukraine applied for NATO membership over a decade ago. Neither Ukraine nor NATO took steps to make that happen. Ukraine later withdrew that request. Then later took steps to allow them to become members, but again never took steps to become a member.