I'm fuzzy on their current political state...is Zelenski a "good guy" or a "bad guy"?
I think he was the one that was elected officially, not an oligarch, right?

I'd think EU would come to the rescue, send Putin & Trump a message...

...in various parts of the Ukraine government and economy.

helpfully,
Bright

and they don't want to piss Russia off for other reasons including asymmetrical warfare.

and corruption

to the corruption within their government, that it has not sustained democratic values over the decades.

I'm one who thinks Brexit is a huge mistake. just my side salad comments (food for thought)

Manafort advised the pro-Russian candidate to victory, then the Euromaidan protest and upheaval in 2013-2014 along with the Crimea annexation causes so much instability that both sides put EU membership on hold.

In 2016, as I remember. That's one stage in the process, which is incredibly detailed, scheduled, and monitored. It can easily take a decade or two. There are numerous rigorous benchmarks to be met.

Put it this way, geography aside, it would take Canada just as long and the US much longer, if ever.

Propping up tiny Greece and various other economic basketcases is enough of a drain already, though it helps keeping the Euro down low enough in value to make German exports cheap of course.

Imagine how local workers in Germany would feel about 50 million highly-educated workers having free movement to the west and willing to work for peanuts. European unity is already fragile.

Things are already tenuous enough in some of the European countries. I guess Ukraine's admission would add a lot of fuel to the fire.

Nobody wants Europe's economy to get shakier.

I'm seeing some really intelligent points I hadn't considered.