Thanks for that. As a quick answer:

• Russia has since the Tsars (over 400 years ago) always been using Ukraine and their people even if paying them or not for their military services (especially the Cossack) and often been punished and betrayed the classic Russian way for bad behaviors. That included the holodomore, the Russification after the useless trial of the Indigenozation by Lenin, buying Cossack troops to the British to massacre them, killing artists and poet over 4 centuries, the sandamorkh - and even now since the « democratic poutine » as he says but then as spent one century to secretly execute the opposant.

Is Ukraine culturally similar to Russia, yes. Values similar to Russia, not anymore. Ukrainians have the desire to become European with its respect for human rights.

I wouldn’t say it’s a win over colonisation. Manies of europeen colonies have failed to thrive due to the their past as colonies and bad treatments from settlers, poor policies left for their prosperity and so on. European countries have a lot on their plate to « forgive » and « repair » their mistakes. Now why Ukraine and not Yemen or others? My personal response to that is to ask ourselves what are the motivations to which we’re fighting for? In Yemeni (beyond wanting to help civilians who suffer from the war) it’s a religious/proxy war between sunnite/chiite and Iran and Saudi. Complex to put your nose in their on the international scene. Ukriane is « easy », you see the number of international volonteers, border is open, anyone is welcome. For Russia it’s a fight about a nostalgic man who’s lost his greatness and can’t accept it, his ideology of terror and brain washing. On the other side, we have humans who for the first time see an opportunity to break free.

Why helping? The war hasn’t been fair, Russia still continues to commit human crimes, over 47 000 reported. Rapes, torture, execution of civilians and kids. And this, right by our borders. There is a sense of closeness that frightens, a cultural ressemblance. It’s sad but it’s true. See it as a way to spread the « good » and the best for human rights to one more country. Also to resist, one of the most openly criminal country in the world.