The history of Russia and Ukraine, as partners and as enemies

This article is from "Plain News" a paper for plain people, conservative Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite and Brethren. It's an opinion piece on what is behind the invasion of Ukraine. It has a good history going back 1000 years, and a partial motivation about the NATO policy and expansion (I don't really think that is so strong because even if Russia owned Ukraine, NATO would still be on its border just as it would be if Ukraine were part of NATO.

https://www.plainnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Why-is-Russia-invading-Ukraine-___-Plain-News-3-9-22-1.pdf

"The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in 1999; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined in 2004; Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and North Macedonia in 2020. NATO reports that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine are all currently seeking membership. Almost all of these countries were previously a part of either the Soviet Union and/or the Warsaw Pact military alliance. Russia has viewed this NATO expansion to its very borders with much trepidation . . . "