Interesting view (from Circe at MoA, answering s.o.)
I think you don't get how Ukraine has become a de facto member of NATO regardless of the official public rigamarole and how strategically important it is to USNATO in containing Russia as a world power. This unofficial Natofication of Ukraine is an existential threat to Russia.

From your comment you don't seem to get how every day this threat has been increasing and how the goal of the UkieNeonazis is the destruction of Russia by all means including through NATO and influencing Ukraine's government in the direction of that goal.

How else can Russia ensure that doesn't happen without involvement in that government guaranteeing absolute neutrality, eliminating the influences hostile to Russia?

I don't see a cosmetic, one-dimensional solution here. We're talking about a country bordering Russia with NATO all around it, so it's disingenuous on your part to throw in Neocon.

Ukraine is not some country like Iraq was or Iran is that were targeted merely to grow U.S. hegemonic interests. Russia IS like Iran in the crosshairs, and more so, being a world power antithetical to U.S. interests.

If this Russian Operation appears to resemble strategy from the Neocon playbook, then Russia can bring up Iraq and Libya, where regime change occurred; and ask: how were these two an existential threat to the U.S. and NATO (albeit in Iraq's case NATO went under the guise of coalition of the willing)?

Let's be fair, frank and truthful. In this case, Russsia is Iraq, Libya and Iran fighting back with all the might Russia, unlike the others, is fortunate to possess; the military might and ingenuity required to defeat the behemoth, USNATO, via Ukraine as that is the tool the former is using. Therefore, eradicating all traces of allegiance to the behemoth is essential.