Ukraine and the West can’t stop an evolution they started. Everything is in reverse as per my observations after 2008. USSR went bankrupt long ago because of the arms race with the USA. USSR lost all their satellites.
So, a reversal of that trend is Russia starts regaining their satellites. Very simple. Imo they got “played” by Europe and the west. Now, its the opposite, the entire west is somewhat broke, (like USSR was) and now Russia is probably a lot better off financially these days.