To remain the main gas station for Europe, to remove competitors like ExxonMobil and Shell. Russia succeeds here in its own way (gas prices go to the moon worldwide = more dough even if export to Europe is reduced), while the US and the “collective west” have their main competitor (China) stripped of its potential ally’s… potential. It’s going to be a long war, it’s going to exhaust Russian economy and its military. Less the chance for providing strong aid to China in the shit hit the fan situation. Win-win for Russia (short term) and the US (longer term). Nobody asked Ukrainians though. The anti-nazi, -fascism, and ultra-patriotism sides of it - all is just a broth that’s been brewing for 30 years, cooked by master chefs carefully adding the necessary spices to both pots. The heat was set to high even before 2014. The whole situation is the pure result of the USSR collapse, and the greed that created the newborn oligarchs that got everything for nothing on both sides during 90s.