That was an easy target, plus the population there is mostly Russian, so there was no objection or resistance from the local population. Putin knew this, that’s why they went for it. On the other hand, there was going to be war if he tried the same with the rest of Ukraine. And I agree, after reasurrances that Ukraine won’t try and be a part of NATO, Russia still finds an excuse to attack, yes, there is no way avoiding war. But, this option was never tried, so we’ll never know…