ok, an answer, as promised. or more of an illustration of how the russians view things, using your example.
in the extended version, andy, rick and kyle have history between them. kyle's house did not even exist until rick built it and then gave it to kyle. andy had been in a state of conflict, more or less open, with rick, for decades. andy has been funding the guys that throw bricks in ricks's business windows, and rick has been doing the same with the guys that slash andy's car tires from his business. there's a constant conflict between the two. the houses at the end of rick's street enter in a coalition with andy, more and more houses, closing in on rick's place. rick feels threatened and lets andy know. at one point rick tried to place large gallons of oil right next to andy's house, and andy threatened to blow up the entire block if that happens, so rick pulled back. now, in rick's mind, andy is doing the same, coming closer and closer to rick's house, until it becomes apparent that andy is in negotiations to enter in an alliance with Kyle, who is right next door to rick, and whose house rick built. at this point, in rick's mind, there's only one solution - try to take over kyle's house.
this is of course a very shallow presentation, but it is, in my experience, how russians view the situation.
i feel your example lacked the needed historical context and it started the presentation like there was no baggage before the story began.
again, this is not how i see the situation. but i know for a fact this is how the russians see it, cause i basically grew up listening to this type of discourse and it's this discourse that has been brewing for the last 20 years. small countries like mine are always left in pieces after the big boys fight. it really means nothing to a small country, that is devastated by war, that this side or that claims the moral upper hand of the discourse. what i want is peace but it looks like none of the big countries want it. russia doesn't, america doesn't, china doesn't. it feels a lot like the eve of the first world war, where everybody was itching for a fight. so my expectations for the future aren't so rosy. i expect hundreds of thousands of ukrainian dead and a country torn to shreds, while zelenski gets a nobel prize and a villa in america. i expect tens of thousands of russian dead and putin and his gang of corrupt criminals to still roll in billions. and i expect china to soon start doing the imperial stomp as well.