Don't look at what Putin says. Look at what he does. He is killing russians fast and rapidly lowering the birthrate with a cohesive policy of enshittification.

Ecological overshoot, of which climate change is a major component of puts the worlds food supply at risk on a growing planet now at 8.2B and growing. World leaders know it's crunch time soon. That is why the whole world is rearming and armies are marching.

Russian wants fewer mouths to feed and wants Ukraines rich chernozem soils as having a breadbasket under your control will be a strategic resource on a very hungry planet.

Edit: This is a shitpost.

Edit 2: It's also why they are antix vax, and anti quarrentine. Trick people into wiping out as many as possible through disease, so you don't have to do it through less palatable means.