I've spent significant time in Ukraine and in Russia, and as best as I can tell the difference between the two countries is that from around 2004 onward people in Ukraine had some modest hope of improvement within their own nation, as it tried to move Westward despite EU reluctance whereas in Russia no one had much hope of improvement. Indeed, every tech entrepreneur I spoke to from 2005 to 2011 had one dream: sell out and move to Thailand. In Ukraine the dream was to become rich and remain in Ukraine. This speaks volumes, and it is to the great shame of the EU that so little support was provided when it could have made an enormous difference and prevented this entire war from ever happening.