Ukraine, once a nation with 40 million people, will make do with much less in the decades to come, possibly forever. Despite it lacking media coverage or public attention (in the west at least) since the end of the soviet union, it wasn't some backwater. It inherited a large amount of the soviet arms industry and possessed highly impressive industrial capabilities in aerospace, metallurgy and machinery. We should not forget the competent education system and the bountiful agricultural and mining sectors as well.
This war has, outside of a miracle, killed the country.
The wealthy and educated have left for Poland and Western Europe. Throw in millions of women who have built lives and will most likely never come back. For the women who've stayed, dating feels like a lost prospect because there are not enough men.
Your post mentions Russian debt, which other posters have dissected, yet you failed to mention Ukraine's debt. One hopes that the remaining natural resources aren't auctioned off to Wall Street or something.
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Any sane Ukrainian leader would have recognized that the strategy of dooming your nation for the next 50 years so that some officials in Europe will pat you on the back while they watch from afar is not a wise one. Hell, these leaders may not be around in a few years once the Right in Europe comes into power in a few years' time.
