Unfortunately it is not up to Russia if Ukraine decided to join NATO or not. It also would have made no difference or posed no Russia.The Russians are giving the impression that their strategic desire to have a neutral state on their border was/is non-negotiable. They did not want any further eastward expansion of NATO infrastructure. They also claim that crimes against Russian speaking people's in the east of Ukraine were/are not being reported in western media. I do not know what the veracity of these claims are. They may be exaggerating the danger and impact of a a right wing element in Ukraine, which I think had Nazi units during WWII.