If Russia had invaded Ukraine in 2012 I would agree with you. The US backed a coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Ukraine in 2014 and installed an unelected, pro-US government - handpicked by Victoria Nuland and co. Since that time there has been no "independent Ukraine."

There are multiple perfect examples of this, the most poignant since the invasion. Ukraine has tried multiple times to negotiate directly with Russia. The first time in March 2022, one month after the invasion in Istanbul. They had nearly come to terms when Boris Johnson flew over as the US/UK/NATO representative and said that we ("the West") would not support Ukraine if they signed a peace deal at that time. There were (IIRC) two more instances where we quashed peace efforts by Ukraine since then.

The US openly states now that this is a proxy war. Biden, Lindsey Graham, Lloyd Austin have all made it clear that this is the US using Ukraine to fight Russia for US interests. We have military bases, missiles and US soldiers stationed for years next door in Romania. Having proxies and in the case of the UK and Poland, US CIA and potentially US "advisors," actual boots on the ground, we are fighting to expand our sphere of influence from Romania to Ukraine.

That is the fucking definition of a frontier war. I don't need Moscow to read a goddamn map. The bullshit "you have Moscow in your head if you don't believe the US is completely blameless and not involved in Ukraine" is intellectually insulting. Thus my profanity.