Associate Professor Markus Wagner from the school of law has predicted Putin has three main goals for declaring war on Ukraine.

"The war in Ukraine is a tragedy and has the potential to reshape the political and economic order not only of Europe, but globally," he said.

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He said President Vladimir Putin wanted to restore "Russia's former glory", its role as an empire and rebuild its influence.

"It is clear to most observers Putin is stuck in the 20^th and even 19^th century in conceiving international relations where military might trumps everything else," Prof Wagner said.

"Economic integration has been the hallmark of the world order since the end of the Cold War. It was also a predictor of stability and peace.

"Russia's unjustifiable and unprovoked attack against Ukraine shows that this calculus does not apply to Putin who instead prefers military might."

Prof Wagner said Putin wanted to create a buffer zone between Russia and countries he perceived to be a threat, especially NATO nations.

He said Ukraine was likely not the last building block for this undertaking but if he was to further invade other countries including Estonia and Latvia then NATO would come to the aid of those countries.

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Prof Wagner said Putin wanted a new world order, in which Russia and China could be counterweights to the West.

"Russia under President Putin has ambitions to recreate a world order in which it plays a more central role than it has since the fall of the Iron Curtain," he said.

"It is seeking to use its economic levers of oil and gas supplies to divide Europe to achieve that goal.

"In what emerges as a potent alliance, Russia and China together envision a world different from the rules-based order that underpins the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation."

Prof Wagner said the world was entering a period of instability and increasing uncertainty in prices for energy and consumables, with disruptions of supply chains for years to come.

"This will hit [wallets] on a daily basis, from the price of petrol and food and impact the availability of goods," he said.

Prof Wagner said the war was illegal under international law because it was not in self-defence nor because of "collective self-defence" to protect two breakaway Ukrainian territories that supported Russia.

Nor was humanitarian intervention needed because there was no evidence of genocide in Ukraine.

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