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A post on Ask Lemmygrad by user Cyber Ghost titled "What are the reasons why Russia attacked Ukraine?"
Below is the comment by user @cfgaussian reading: "The Nazi Kiev regime attacked the ethnically Russian Donbass for eight years intending to commit genocide in their quest for an ethnically pure Ukraine and Russia finally came to their aid after it became clear that the Minsk agreements were never going to be honored. Also, NATO was turning Ukraine into a hyper militarized threat to the integrity and security of Russia itself. Refusal of the US and Europe to negotiate on a new inclusive security framework, refusal to stop NATO expansion eastward, and the relentless and violent anti-Russian psychosis that has gripped Ukraine since the Maiden coup that triggered a civil war in a country in which half or more of the population are essentially Russian became intolerable."
User Summertime Soviet has replied to the comment saying "It's a shame we can't pin comments on posts, because this one would get a pin from me.
so instead, have this Farmer_Heck seal of approval"
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OG OP actually asked a good question. Aside from regional cultural claims and geopolitical military perks Ukraine also holds massive significance for its ports, grain production, and the oil pipeline that crosses from Russia to Western Europe.
Not condoning Russia's actions, from it, but if they had managed to get away with it they'd be in a vastly better position on the world's stage.
Also worth mentioning, in addition to those things, the relatively recently discovered oil and gas deposits in Ukraine, much of which is off the coast. Before the first invasion (where they took Crimea), Ukraine was getting ready to tap into that and compete with Russia for western energy money.
Oh, that alone explains a LOT. As usual, a proxy war between larger players' interests.