Seems to be the average Ukranian was better off economically when they were friendly with Russia.
Ukraine had a real industrial base 20 years ago. But it will now soon be dust.
Ukraine’s heavy industry is a legacy of the Soviet era, with little in the way of investment, innovation, and new products since then. Now, Ukraine’s major heavy industrial companies are entering the terminal phase of bankruptcy.
Looking at them in modern days few people realize that even as part of USSR they were largely on par or ahead with France or UK in late 1980s as an industrialized entity in many trades.
Now look at this video (I already posted it on another tread):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fWn_o0kvVU4
Even if you don’t understand the language it is easy to get the idea.
A major city of 100k people has a grand opening of a....traffic light. Attended by national TV, governor and a crowd of excited citizens.
The very same city had fraffic lights at every intersection 50 years ago, all stolen for scrap over last two decades. Only older people even remember what it is.