Simple, Oliver Stone is full of shit. He's a conspiracy theorist for sure, but this is beyond idiotic. He blames Zelensky and the U.S. for the fact that Putin decided to invade because he lost his favorite puppet - Yanukovych. And this was after a 8-year buildup after Russia annexed Crimea to ensure it retained control of ports in the Black Sea - which it saw as a safeguard against NATO.

The reality is, Putin is doing what he's always done, trying to resurrect the good old days of the USSR when Russia had "buffer states" between it and western Europe. He managed to rule Ukraine, Belarus, Chechnya, Georgia, and other neighboring states through leaders who would do his bidding, and failing that, he'd invade and install some.