“What if the Ruskies were flying around right off of Tijuana:”
A closer analogy is if Texas were separated from the US and Warsaw Pact forces were deploying there, and there was serious consideration given to Texas joining the Pact.
There are a million Russian buried in Ukraine.
They would fight an existential nuclear war to keep it.
“...There are a million Russian buried in Ukraine.....”
True!
Historically there has never really be an independent Ukraine. Both Russia & Ukraine claim the Kingdom of Rus as their origin. Ukraine does have a different (slightly) different language & culture. I don’t know how you would measure this but the differences in language & culture don’t seem to be as nearly great as the differences between Spain & Portugal. However Portugal has a long history of being independent.
There was a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that existed and controlled the area but it was not Ukrainian. Ukraine seems to have existed primarily as a buffer region between Poland,the Baltic States, Moscow and the Ottomans. A unique culture & outlook developed but not necessarily a state. I would like to see Ukraine succeed & proposer as a separate nation but I doubt it will happen.
I think when it relied on USA & UK guarantees of sovereignty and gave up nuclear weapons it sealed its fate as a separate nation!