Such an assertion is not only factually wrong but also is completely out of touch with Ukrainian existential realities
There are two key historical events that compel Ukrainians to fight and not agree to any compromise with the Russians in ceding Ukrainian territory to Russians under any circumstances.
1) The Ukrainian famine of 1932
As the Bolsheviks instituted national collectivization of farm lands the peasants in Ukraine resisted, and for good reason, they were the bread basked of the new Soviet Union. The Russian controlled Soviet instituted a completely artificial famine in Ukraine resulting in the death of millions. The loss of life of Ukrainians was at a higher rate than that of Jews in the Holocaust.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/The-famine-of-1932-33-Holodomor
The result of Stalin’s policies was the Great Famine (Holodomor) of 1932–33—a man-made demographic catastrophe unprecedented in peacetime. Of the estimated five million people who died in the Soviet Union, almost four million were Ukrainians. The famine was a direct assault on the Ukrainian peasantry, which had stubbornly continued to resist collectivization; indirectly, it was an attack on the Ukrainian village, which traditionally had been a key element of Ukrainian national culture. Its deliberate nature is underscored by the fact that no physical basis for famine existed in Ukraine. The Ukrainian grain harvest of 1932 had resulted in below-average yields (in part because of the chaos wreaked by the collectivization campaign), but it was more than sufficient to sustain the population. Nevertheless, Soviet authorities set requisition quotas for Ukraine at an impossibly high level. Brigades of special agents were dispatched to Ukraine to assist in procurement, and homes were routinely searched and foodstuffs confiscated. At the same time, a law was passed in August 1932 making the theft of socialist property a capital crime, leading to scenes in which peasants faced the firing squad for stealing as little as a sack of wheat from state storehouses. The rural population was left with insufficient food to feed itself. The ensuing starvation grew to a massive scale by the spring of 1933, but Moscow refused to provide relief. In fact, the Soviet Union exported more than a million tons of grain to the West during this period.
2) Ukrainian De Nuclarization - the Budapest Memorandum of 1993
When Ukraine left the Soviet Union they retained a sizable stock of nuclear weapons. They agreed to give up their nuclear stock on the condition that the West would come to the aid of Ukraine if attacked by Russia. Anticipating that Russia would in the future invade Ukraine they wanted assurances that the West would stand with her. The Budapest Memorandum had security assurances from all of the major powers, including Russia, that provided for support of Ukraine to maintain its existing borders. Obviously Russia never intended to support the agreement.
For Ukrainians this struggle is a basic existential one. Will Ukraine be free to be independent and able to advance its integration with a democratic Europe with shared values or will it return to status of a vassal state under Moscow control which in the past has used mass murder to subjugate Ukrainian independence.
Ukraine could have easily prevented a Russian invasion had they kept their nuclear weapons and pointed them at Moscow. They agreed to give up these weapons with Western assurances of assistance. It isn't the West that is the driving force in resisting Russian aggression, it is Ukraine, and for good reason.
Ukrainians don't really have a choice either sacrifice now or face subjugation by a Russian despot that has no compulsion about mass murdering millions of Ukrainians.
A similar existential choice faces the West. Are we willing to stand by Ukrainians after having promised that we would when they agreed to non-proliferation. If we do not stand with Ukraine now then we should expect that all efforts to persuade nuclear states to give up their nuclear weapons in the future will be futile as no one will believe our promises.
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