That makes little sense, sir. But I'm glad you raised two salient points. One, he is attempting to seize land that once belonged to the Russian empire and bring neighboring states under his control. Two, his motivations clearly included seizing control of Ukraine before it joined NATO.

The fact that he invaded clearly demonstrates he not only wants to resurrect the old Russian Empire, but he is determined to do so before NATO expansion makes that impossible. I don't know what "popular narrative" you're listening to, but where I come from, Putin knows exactly what he is doing and you just said what it was.

Also, you're clearly avoiding the point here. You claimed Russia was provoked, but Putin's own words show he's not concerned with "protecting" against aggression, but reversing what he sees as historic decline and losses. If you can't address that, you're conceding the point and admitting Russia was NOT provoked.