In the same sense that Palestine is Israeli occupied. Nobody is going to do anything about it so for all intents and purposes it’s Russian now.
Absolutely not. Ukraine was and is a sovereign nation. The West Bank has never been part of any sovereign nation. So the occupations are not at all the same in law. You confuse the lay term for physical occupation with the international legal term for occupation.
In fact Ukraine defines itself no differently than Israel defines itself. They both have laws of return for specific people identified by ancestry.
Israel's dispute over land title in the West Bank is very complex. It was never a sovereign nation taken over by another sovereign nation. In that sense the entire West Bank is disputed land. Yes the Israeli military is there and administers laws over Palestinians. That by the way is the legal issue. Not that it is there administering laws under a military governorship against Palestinians BUT that it does that with Palestinians but allows Israelis on the West Bank to come under the Israeli civilian government. It is that double standard that creates the legal conflict.
People mix that up with physically being on the West Bank or land title disputes which must be settled at an individual level by conflicting land title owners. Israel at one point tried to enter into an agreement saying 98% of the West Bank would be transferred to Palestinian laws and government but Arafat unilaterally ripped it up and both the PA and Hamas state they will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state and their Palestine must include a majority Muslim state in Israel and on the West Bank AND where Jordan is.
Ukraine on the other hand was part of wars with Russia and ended up being taken over by Russia then eventually returned to being a sovereign nation of which Crimea was always part of Ukraine.
Putin illegally invaded and annexed Crimea no different than Hitler went into Sudetenland a part of what was then Czechoslovakia.
Like Hitler, Europe has tried to appease Putin reluctant to stand up to him with a concerted effort. This means countries like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden. Georgia, Ukraine, Bulgaria to name a few are wondering-if Putin invaded or reinvaded them would Europe do anything? Sweden and Finland are technically neutral but their proximity to Russia is and will always be a security threat to them. So far neutrality has appeased the former Soviet and current Putin regime.
Right now what prevents Putin's expansion is the fact that internally its country only has a black market economy. Its mainstream economy collapsed and has never been fixed. Russians just don't do well with economic planning. They are addicted to 5 or 10 year plans which never are met and just fail to take into consideration the volatility of open market prices. They just can't get the hang of open markets. It sold all its oil reserves to China and it has a broken down tax collection system. Its people depend on making money illegally and unreported to survive. What tax is collected does NOT address the country's deficits.
Putin's armed forces are barely financed. He fools no political or intelligence risk analyst. He's just another sociopathic dwarf with a height complex.
Putin invaded Crimea because of the crucial access it provides to the Black Sea and oil. Also you have to remember he started as Mayor of St. Petersburgh formerly known as Stalingrad and Leningrad. He tries to emulate Josef Stalin in his behaviour towards the Ukraine and Crimea. He fancies himself as the reincarnation of Stalin.
