It was 2008. Back then Russia had problems conquering Georgia (and backed off when 3 EU politicians flew to Tbilisi during the war). Even in 2014 with all the

It was 2008. Back then Russia had problems conquering Georgia (and backed off when 3 EU politicians flew to Tbilisi during the war). Even in 2014 with all the corruption in Ukrainian army and all the preparations (remember that Yanukovych was blackmailed by Putin in 2013 to stop the EU agreement according to a parliament member from his party) - so Putin had prepared for at least 1 year - once Ukraine started the ATO (anti-terrorist operation) - they quickly regained several territories till Russia sent another wave of "volunteers" in "nothern wind" operation. It's very unlikely Russia would be able to do anything quickly in 2008 that would be anywhere close to what it did with year of advance planning in 2014. And it's very, very unlikely that it would have ended up worse for Ukraine somehow. IMHO Russia would just do nothing, cause the risk/effect calculation would be much worse for them had Ukraine already be in NATO. It's time to accept that the west fucked up in 2008.