Up until the last handful of years, Ukraine has been a cesspool of former Soviet corruption and as recently at 2013, had a corrupt Russian installed Present, Viktor Yanukovych, who then proceeded to undo a decade and a half of progress into their European Union membership. This ultimately led to Crimea being annexed by Russia without any follow up by Ukraine itself.
So no, Ukraine joining NATO would just make the issues of poor governance Ukraine the military issues of Europe and the US.
Ukraine should have counter invaded Crimea and kicked it the Russian occupiers, they would have been in no worse shape than they are now and arguably would have an easier time defending southern Ukraine had they've done it.
."Zelenskyy said that his country is looking for commitments from "leading nations" that Ukraine’s security will be protected with a treaty if it is to agree to a deescalation with Russia and reiterated his belief that Ukraine would be a beneficial addition to NATO.
"It’s hard for us to talk about NATO because NATO doesn't want to admit us," Zelenskyy said. "I think it's a mistake because if we join NATO, we make NATO much stronger. We are not a weak state. We are not proposing to make us stronger at the expense of NATO…We are an addition, we are the locomotive. I think we are one of the important components of the European continent."
The Ukrainian president added that he has spoken with President Biden and told him he would like to see the United States included in a security agreement that would provide long-term support for Ukraine to address the possibility Russia would to invade again in the future. Zelenskyy said that the United States is "considering this proposition
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/zel...esides-victory