It's Vova's own fault. In the negotiations, he needed to be a statesman.
Find a stable solution for all parties.
Instead, he exploited a weakened position to demand for Donbass self-government so they can decide things for themselves, for example trade with Russia, but yet also still be in Ukraine, so they can block the rest of Ukraine from going into the EU and achieving prosperity.
The problem is that he gets so emotionally involved when it comes to Russian Slavic nationalism, and so he fueled the conflict in Donbass by sending in Russians to fight alongside them and supplying and controlling the fighting on the sly through the Russian military.
V.V. Putin let years go by and thousands die, as he cynically used this festering sore for his own narrative.
Ukraine is never going to be prosperous joining the EU......because it’s obvious to date they don’t want Ukraine.
Fact is they’re all using Ukraine for a stomping ground. THat’s not going to change even after this is over. NATO, US, and Eu all use Ukraine like a 24/7 laundromat. And they will in the future.