This war was never about NATO. Russia has never and will never be threatened by NATO because it has nuclear weapons. As a direct result of Putins invasion of Ukraine he has caused both Finland and Sweden to join and increased the NATO member border with Russia by at least an order of magnitude. Those borders are largely still undefended by Russia, thus showing they have no real concerns about NATO. Very smart move by Putin eh?
If you want to read a reasonable summary, start here
"Ukraine in early 2022 was not even remotely close to joining NATO. Far from pursuing Ukraine, the Alliance had repeatedly sidestepped appeals from Kyiv for a Membership Action Plan, refusing to offer even a clear signal regarding future accession. On the eve of Russia’s invasion, the most optimistic forecasts indicated that Ukraine’s dream of joining NATO was still decades away."
Regardless, Ukraine is an independent democratic country and has every right to make any alliance it chooses. You should also realise that Russia is a terrorist state condemned by almost every member of the UN. Are the leaders of these countries all "paranoid"?
