The current Ukraine-Russia conflict began in the Russian cινιℓ ωαr. Already there they tried to become independent, without the existence of NATO. The why is simple, Ukrainians have never wanted to be communists. That is why they were the main objective of Stalin in the famine caused,the holodomor, because they did not submit to the communist regime.

It's the same as Taiwan. Are the Taiwanese Chinese? Yes, even they don't deny it, what they aren't is communists, that's why they want to be independent from the CCP's China.

I think the issue goes that way more than ethnic issues. Russia was Europe until the Bolshevik Revolution, because the Tsars from Peter the Great dedicated themselves to bringing Russia closer to Europe and Europizing the Country, just look at the Russian art of the 19th and early 20th centuries, it's  indistinguishable from the European tradition.

Then  Ukraine wants to be Europe. Ukraine has been opposing the USSR from the beginning, not by NATO as that article says. There was no NATO in the Russian cινιℓ ωαr and yet even then Ukraine struggled to become independent from the incipient USSR without success.

As I said in the other thread, Russia is still determined to be the beacon of World Communism, it's supporting all the communist countries, the last thing has been to support Gustavo Petro in Colombia, this will only be solved with the return of Tzarism to Russia.