Let me repeat: Ukraine is a sovereign country. It can look West, East, or neither. Furthermore, countries apply to join NATO rather than are being incorporated

Let me repeat: Ukraine is a sovereign country. It can look West, East, or neither. Furthermore, countries apply to join NATO rather than are being incorporated by force. It is neocolonialist to think that Ukraine is just a pawn between NATO and Russia. Justifying the Russian attack goes the same way as "because her skirt was too short... oh, no, no - it wasn't her fault but of society, which lets women dress like that". It's always the aggressor's fault, full stop. For a comparison, NATO didn't perform a land invasion on Belarus when it became a Russian vassal state.