Donnacha Ó Beacháin is Professor of Politics at Dublin City University, he has just returned from Ukraine, and joins Fran and David on Behind the Story to discuss his trip and his recently published book 'Unfinished Empire'.
Professor Ó Beacháin debunks Russian President Vladimir Putin's justification for invading Ukraine in 2022. He explains why Russia has always had a desire to control and rule over neighbouring countries.
Prof Ó Beacháin also believes Russia feels exposed as its larger geographic size does not match its economic output.
"Russia today is not a great power; the Chinese economy is 10-times the size of Russia’s, the American economy is 14-times the size of Russia’s," he said.
"Russia’s economy is smaller than Italy’s [and] we don’t defer to Italy on many geopolitical things.
"We sometimes, because of its sheer geographical size, lose sight of its economic minustatus," he added.
How has Russia responded to Trump's 50-day ultimatum?
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said Washington will arm Ukraine by having European nations purchase American weapons, then transfer them to Kyiv.
President Trump has also threatened Russia with steep trading restrictions unless a peace deal with Ukraine is reached within 50 days.
However, Prof Ó Beacháin told David and Fran that Mr Putin is unlikely to retreat at this stage.
"Why would he retreat now? All the signs are in his favour," he said.
"Donald Trump is very ambivalent, to put it mildly, about supporting Ukraine.
"The European Union may have the intent or desire, but it doesn’t have the means.
"From his perspective, this is not the time to retreat – certainly as summer approaches," he added.
Prof Ó Beacháin also believes "paranoia" from Mr Putin about internal or external threat to his leadership leaves unanswered questions.
"We don’t know what will replace Putin; there’s no number two or number three," he said.
"If you allow a number two to develop, they will develop ambitions and that will, of course, jeopardise your own position," he added.
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