Putting this here for my own use as much as anything, as a handy copypasta for anyone who mouths off about #NATO and the #US "#provoking" the #Ukraine #war, or insists that Ukraine must "#negotiate a #settlement" with #Russia. If you like it, feel free to re-use as you see fit.

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Ukraine applied for NATO membership before the war and got turned down. That's pretty much the opposite of provocation on NATO's part.

If Russia were really worried about NATO expansion, they could have taken it up at any time with any of the NATO countries bordering Russia. But nope, somehow invading Ukraine was containing NATO ...

... oops, turns out what it did was make Finland and Sweden abandon their long-standing neutrality and *more than double* Russia's border with NATO countries.

Anyway, back in 1991, they signed an agreement to honor (and indeed, to defend) Ukraine's borders. Since then, they've invaded Crimea, the Donbas, and now the rest of the country. So what *possible* settlement could:

1. Be acceptable to both Ukraine and Russia,
2. Ensure Ukraine's continuing survival as a nation, and
3. Russia be trusted to honor?

I'd really like to know.