This study aims to provide a geopolitical explanation of the Russia–Ukraine War by focusing on Ukraine’s geographical position and the overlapping interests of competing actors. Drawing comparatively on the theories of the Heartland and Rimland, the study develops the Strategic Intersection Arena model. The research employs a descriptive–analytical approach based on library and documentary sources. It examines how Ukraine’s geopolitical significance and the intersection of Russian and Western interests transformed the country into a Strategic Intersection Arena in the 2022 war. The findings indicate that, on the one hand, Ukraine holds strategic significance within the Heartland framework due to its location in Eastern Europe and its proximity to Russia’s continental space; on the other hand, its peripheral position in western Eurasia, access to the Black Sea, and connections to maritime and transportation spaces confer geopolitical significance within the logic of the Rimland. However, Ukraine’s geopolitical significance does not derive merely from its position within either of these two frameworks; rather, it emerges from the simultaneity and interaction of three interrelated dimensions: spatial intersection, functional intersection, and power intersection. In this context, Ukraine’s spatial position, together with its transportation, energy, transit, maritime, and security functions, intersects with competition among powers pursuing divergent strategic orientations, thereby contributing to intensified geopolitical rivalry and a security dilemma. In the Ukrainian case, this configuration, interacting with historical, political, identity-related, and security factors, contributed to the intensification of Russia–West rivalry, the increasing militarization of the crisis, and the emergence of conditions that culminated in the 2022 war.