The news article discusses the 500th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, highlighting that Ukraine's progress towards democracy threatened Putin's regime. Putin labeled Ukraine as "anti-Russia" in an essay before the invasion, claiming that Ukraine was being prepared as a staging ground against Russia by NATO and the West. The article argues that Ukraine's democratic and economic development posed a direct threat to Putin's autocratic rule and that Ukraine's accession to the EU would be even more damaging to the Kremlin. The invasion in 2014 aimed to halt Ukraine's progress but instead accelerated it.

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