Russia is not some great defender of nations who had a bleeding heart for the struggle of the Ossetians, look at their own war in nearby breakaway Chechnya. they sweeped into Ossetia as a way to kneecap NATO who was getting friendly with Georgia, much like the obvious idea with Ukraine, which is pretty flimsy but goes along well geopolitically suring up the Russian flanks from NATO missile bases, and plays well back home with nationalists. idfk what he's gonna do in Ukraine is the gods honest truth, the annexation of Crimea really spooked the west and I'd have thought a direct attack on Ukraine would be too open a war not to drag in Europe