” don’t think Ukraine is the equivalent to Afghanistan even on a bad day. Just go to Lviv. (The western town bordering Poland.)”
Hell, it used to be PART of Poland, but with a slightly different spelling: Lvov; and Lwow. It was one of those unfortunate areas that routinely was passed among different sovereigns.
FDR wanted Lvov to stay in Poland after ww2 but Stalin already had it and said no. Western Ukraine is more like eastern Europe post CCCP while eastern Ukraine and Crimea are more Russian.
This is not the first time the Donetsk region wanted “independence.”