Why has Putin waged war against Ukraine? Many historians and political scientists believe much of the motives are related to geographic history. Ukraine and much of Eastern Europe was part of an area of Russia known as The Pale of Settlement from 1791 - 1918. After WWII, this region was controlled by the USSR, falling behind the Iron Curtain. Today this region comprises Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, parts of Eastern Poland and Romania, as well as a small part of western Russia. There is justifiable concern that Putin wants these lands back - even though the USSR collapsed in 1991. In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and took the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea and has held it since then. The Ukraine is also the largest country in Europe (just a small portion of Russia is in Europe - the rest is in Asia) with a variety of natural resources Putin may also want to control.