I did not know a lot about Ukraine before Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. Even then, I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t pay a lot of attention, but I know it looked like a scary and hostile move.
I still don’t know enough about modern Ukrainian history to make a confident, opinionated statement about their leadership (but it seems as though you hold a very confident opinion on the matter). But I do know that one president sent his military to invade a neighboring country, while another didn’t…
I said before that I’m not excusing American imperialism. Nor am I commenting on the Ukrainian state’s internal politics. I’m aware of how much I don’t know.
But I’m also not going to engage in bullshit games of whataboutism. Putin ordered his military to subdue or destroy a neighboring country. 99% of the time, it’s the “bad guy” who gives that order.