"Perhaps Putin knew and saw this and took advantage of it, knowing that NATO preferred appeasement and negotiations, and the UN simply like to keep calling meetings and to hold votes?" I agree, EL. I believe Putin recognized this likely response from these agencies after his actions with the Crimea, when nothing was done to him then, and just bided his time and made plans for his current attack, waiting for the time he felt was best to strike. IMO, I suspect Putin figured it would be a 'cake walk' to surprise attack Ukraine when he did and come out victorious with minimal fighting. I still also believe that part of his reasoning was that he did not expect Zelenskyy to rally the country as he has done and continues to do. At this point, withdrawing and conceding defeat is not an option for Putin, which means that the Big 3 (NATO, EU, and UN) truly need to get their acts together and actually work to help physically defeat the Russian troops/Putin before Ukraine is completely decimated and Putin moves on to other countries knowing no one is going to stop him with only words as their arsenal.
"Perhaps Putin knew and saw this and took advantage of it, knowing that NATO preferred appeasement and negotiations, and the UN simply like to keep calling meetings and to hold votes?" I agree, EL. I believe Putin recognized this likely response from these agencies after his actions with the Crimea, when nothing was done to him then, and just bided his time and made plans for his current attack, waiting for the time he felt was best to strike. IMO, I suspect Putin figured it would be a 'cake walk' to surprise attack Ukraine when he did and come out victorious with minimal fighting. I still also believe that part of his reasoning was that he did not expect Zelenskyy to rally the country as he has done and continues to do. At this point, withdrawing and conceding defeat is not an option for Putin, which means that the Big 3 (NATO, EU, and UN) truly need to get their acts together and actually work to help physically defeat the Russian troops/Putin before Ukraine is completely decimated and Putin moves on to other countries knowing no one is going to stop him with only words as their arsenal.