Russia Ukraine war, page-7525

"And Ukraine wasn't likely to be admitted into NATO any time soon anyway, so it's a moot point."

Exactly, which so many seem to have forgotten.

Putin made no noise when Estonia, Latva and Lithuania became NATO members...with a combined total border with Russia of 780 kilometres.
Nor did he make a noise when Poland joined NATO, with a border of 400 kilometres with Belorussia - a de-facto Russian state.