It was never about NATO expansion. He doesn't give a shit about NATO. (Or rather, he didn't until he realized that NATO's alliance wasn't as weak as he thought it was.)

Putin just wants Ukraine. The "ethnic Russians in Donbass" and "NATO expansion" is just fake justification. It's nothing but a greedy, imperialistic land grab. He's going to throw Russians into the meat grinder until he either owns all or Ukraine, or until he fucking dies.

Why is he doing it? Look at basically any major successful project from the Soviet Union. The Moskava. The T-34 (and subsequent Soviet-era models). Kharkovchankas. That massive plane I forget the name of and too lazy to google.

All of it was built or designed Ukraine. Ukraine was the industrial heartland of the USSR. There is no USSR without Ukraine's industry and resources.

Putin simply wants it for himself. He wants the industry. He wants the ports. He wants the breadbasket of Europe. He wants another avenue for gas pipelines. He wants the glory and power of the USSR, because despite what Putin wants you to believe, the USSR was never just Russia.

It's nothing but a resource-grabbing imperialist expansion in an attempt to "save" Russia (read - make himself look good and even richer).

Also possible that she was an accessory to the act and didn't do any stabbing herself. Still a piece of shit, just slightly less of one.