Russia - threadbanned users in OP

Well sure, but the answer is obvious - Ukraine is a young country which is very plentiful with natural resources. Up until recently they were pretty much under Putin's thumb with a Russian puppet in charge but the Ukrainian people said - "**** that, we don't want to be under your control, we want to decide our own destiny"

Said puppet was ousted - democracy brought to Ukraine bringing them more in line with Western countries.

Pretty much, but they had a long way to go in that line with Western countries. They were on that line alright but if you go back to 2020/21 any reporting about Ukraine, from within(a step forward in itself) and without was talking about how behind they were in many aspects of that line. The most corrupt nation in Europe outside Russia, with a number of names on the Pandora list including Zelenskyy, Bakanov the head of their internal security service and their ally Kolomoyskyi, one of the richest men in Ukraine, banned from entering the US because he was seen as a "serious threat to the future of Ukraine" and the owner of the TV station that produced Zelenskyy's TV show that later mirrored reality and put money on the heads of separatists. Never mind the clusterfúck of epic proportions of the the civil war in the East of the nation where neither side showered themselves with good works. To be fair to Bakanov he did start to seriously go after corruption. As did Zelenskyy, who also sought to remove the cult of personality BS around his office and even added a law that made the office of Ukrainian president open to prosecution.

The upshot being that before the facist in Moscow decided to do what facists tend to do, Ukraine had a very long road ahead to becoming a Western European nation. IMHO - and this will sound odd - this horror from the Kremlin visited upon their land will be the making of Ukraine. If they give up the Donbas(and I would drop it like a hot rock and get rid of that powderkeg carbuncle, let Russia deal with it) this will stabilise the rest of the country. The world's sympathy and support is near complete, but it also means the beady eye will be on them to make good their claims and aims to become a liberal Western democracy. Ukraine will need rebuilding and again IMHO the EU should go in all guns blazing on that front. A Marshall Plan for Ukraine. And like that plan that elevated post war Germany and boosted the coffers of the US, it'll do the same for the EU and Ukraine and rebuild Ukraine in her image and ours in the EU.

Putin may rage about them looking at NATO, but he'll die of apoplexy if Russia's Ukrainian 'brothers and sisters' end up in the EU. It'll starkly show him and his subjects the stark difference between the shíthole he's leaving them and how good Ukrainians have it. A nice house, a nice car in the driveway, disposable income and a better freer future for you and your kids is a bigger weapon than any gun or bomb. That's how you fúck putin right up the fundament.