That's inconsistent with years of pre-war military training assistance provided post 2014.
Dude, there was no assistance worth writing home about. Merkel lied when she said Minsk deal happened to buy Ukraine more time. We were not prepared at all and it is demonstrably true. Neither did our western allies expect us to hold out for more than a week. Surviving the first months I can only attribute to our resilience, Russian leadership’s corruption and ineptitude and sheer luck. If we did have real support earlier, if years ago we were given 20% of what we were given since the invasion, invasion would not have happened.
NATO membership won't happen and you should really lay off the conspiratorial thinking Weaver. As long as Ukraine is at war and has disputed territories, no one would let it in and let drag everyone into a formal Article 5 war.
The Western interests are very public and transparent, and if they are not, there's always a leak.
I don't think I sounded conspirational because for one I was not suggesting anyone was actually conspiring.
I also do not suggest Ukraine will get NATO membership in the middle of a war, which is indeed a strange idea.
But after the war - very likely. Note, that Ukraine has no disputed territories. Only occupied territories. Crimea is recognized as Russian by Russia, North Korea and whichever Syrian government is controlled by Russia. Also poor Armenia, which also is kaput without Russia. That's not a premise for a real legal dispute. This war can not end with territories remaining occupied, I think the West is clear on that.
Although I concede that the war may turn out to go badly for us. You never know, anything can happen. And we will not be able to deoccupy all the territories. Then we might be pushed into a deal and recognize certain Russian gains. But then, once again, there would be no dispute, just a new legal reality. And Ukraine will never agree to cede land without getting NATO membership because that's just suicide.
Main takeaway - if Ukraine manages to deoccupy all the territories, it may afford to remain neutral. If it is forced to cede territories that can only come with bulletproof security guarantees, of which I can right now only imagine the eventual association with NATO.