• Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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    11 months ago

    I’m not saying that it’s a pro-Russia opinion. I’m saying that it reduces Ukraine to just being a victim of Russia imperialism, instead of being an entire country with people, politics, and an economy.

    Post USSR, Russia has had influence over Ukraine, but it never threatened to invade Ukraine, that only happened in 2014. Ukrainian polls show that Ukraine never wanted to join NATO before the invasion of Crimea/Donbass. In fact, I’ve seen YouTube videos that argue that the lease of Sevastopol to Russia was a way to guarantee to Russia that it wouldn’t join NATO.

    I agree with you that there are challenges with EU membership for Ukraine, but it is also something that Ukrainians have wanted for a long time, more than they wanted military protection from NATO. Considering the current integration climate of the EU, and the international focus on Ukraine, I think they have a good chance. Much better than countries like Turkey which has been backsliding ever since they applied.

    Kraut has a really good video going into detail what European integration will look like for Ukraine, and vice versa:
    https://youtu.be/hA6y4o0-1XY