Russia is an impoverished nation bled dry by criminal capitalists. There aren't more resources in Ukraine than there are in Russia, the natural gas comes from Russia itself.

Russia has no choice. They can't win in a war against NATO. They already lost the cold war and now they lost the second round that you are seemingly unaware was even played.

The fact is though the USA is the instigator of this conflict. The USA wants Russia to collapse. The USA just ended its war in Afghanistan and increased its military budget? Why? Because their 30 year plan to balkanize Russia is about to start now and millions of people are going to die because of the out of control US arms industry.