Sadly, most Americans simply do not care about Ukraine, Russia's military preparations for war, or pretty much anything else that is happening on the other side of the globe.  But over in Russia, things are completely different.  There is constant talk about the potential for war with the west, and there is a lot of pessimism that it will be able to be avoided.

To the Russians, this really is the biggest crisis with the west since the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s.  The Russians have repeatedly warned that western missiles must not be stationed in Ukraine, and they have repeatedly warned that Ukraine must not become a member of NATO.

They are using the same rationale that we used during the Cuban missile crisis.  We didn't want the Russians to have missiles in Cuba that could potentially hit our major cities within just a matter of a few minutes, and likewise the Russians don't want missiles in Ukraine that could potentially hit their major cities within just a matter of a few minutes.