There is one essential that Joschka Fisher misses in his comment : it is the long term view of Ukrainian History.

Ukraine has been colonised brutally by Russia since 250 years. In the late XVIIIth century Katherine II, a German, imposed Russian as the main language, servage system and localisation of the Jews of the Russian Empire on Ukraine. XIXth century was worst. XXith was THE worst moment of Russian colonisation of Ukraine.

Before this Russian colonisation - up to the end of the XIIIth century - Ukraine was an European country with the same level of development that any part of European continent. After the invasion of Mongol and later the colonisation of Russian moscovites , the development of Ukraine was linked to the development of Russia - around 50% of the West European development. It is still true today.

Despite of this Russian brutal colonisation , Ukraine has a nation and as a state has always perdured in the majority of the Ukrainian citizens.

As very well described by Professor Timothy Snyder's books - "Blood's lands", etc - this affirmation of the Ukrainian identity as a nation and as a state has been stronger and stronger during the XXth century and the beginning of XXIst century against the Russian colonisation.

One of the most interesting moment of this admission of the Ukraine identity as a nation and as a state was by Lenin , the September 21st 1922, during his discussion with and against Stalin about the constitution of independent Republics - free to leave - for the formation of URSS. Lenin was against the Russian Imperialism.

The break of URSS comes mainly by the fact that Ukrainians wanted - as Lenin has imagined almost 70 years before - to get back their freedom as an independent state.

During the past 22 years , Russian Federation leaders have done all they can to destroy this Ukrainian - mainly through the corruption of Ukrainian elites with the gas transportation from Russian Federation to Europe.

As History has tough us during the past 170 years, when a country of this size - 46 millions - wants his independence from the colonizer - here Russian Federation - which has only 110 millions ethnic Russians - the coloniser always failed . Russian Federation has already lost Ukraine and more it will try to maintain her colonisation more she will fail.

The process will be long ( five, ten or even twenty years) and bloody ( from 10,000 to hundreds of thousand of dead ) but it is irreversible.

The way Putin acts now is such a terrible mistake because the Ukrainians will hate the Russians fro decades to come.

Then the main question is not if Ukraine wants to be part of Europe or not, the main question is that Ukraine doesn't want to be anymore a colonised part of Russia.

European countries , USA and Canada will have no other choice than to help Ukraine to become an independent country - not because they want to fight against Russia but because Ukraine is part of the West - historically, geographically and of course economically. And that couldn't be denied by the West.

At the opposite Russia is not part of the West but is at best a Chinese province - meaning that in the long term Russia will become control in a way or another by the Chinese - most probably in a smooth way as they do with Indonesia or Philippines by controlling their economies.

Consequently for the West and particularly for the European countries the question with Ukraine is not how to deal with Russia, it is how to sale all the Western assets in Russia as quick as possible to Chinese state companies - in a way to make this Russia more dependent of China . Then to deal with China how they will constrain this Russia regarding to their own Chinese investments in Ukraine.

Basically is to reinforce the traditional Central Asia bound between China and Europe ( named also by the Chinese the new Silk Road), in a way to isolate Russian Eurasian vision as a part of the domination of the Chinese on the Central Asia region.

It is de facto what happens under our eyes.

There is no need for the West to contain this Russian Federation - and the sanctions are not against this Russia but a simple way to unite the West countries and their allies ( Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc ) in the dea with China about Russia. The desire and the goal of the West is that China takes care of Russia and as reward, the West will propose a better integration of Chine in the trade agreements USA-Europe-Asia