If Ukraine joined NATO then, by definition, every military base in Ukraine woudl be a NATO forward operating base on Russia's border.
I notice you avoided the hypothetical about China putting military bases along the US border in Mexico and Canada because there's no answer to that: everybody knows we would never accept it. So why should Russia?
> If Ukraine joined NATO then, by definition, every military base in Ukraine woudl be a NATO forward operating base on Russia's border.
That's quite a retreat from "building missile bases along borders".
But you're still wrong. NATO's primary role is to provide command structures and planning capabilities to coordinate multinational military responses. Military forces and installations remain under national control and are only made available to NATO command structures when member states voluntarily choose to contribute them to a specific mission. Essentially, NATO functions as a coordination bureau rather than a unified standing army.
As for Ukraine specifically, the prospect of joining NATO was shelved by Germany and France in 2008 due to Russian objections. Public support in Ukraine stood at 20-30%, and after a Russian-backed candidate was elected president in 2010, all efforts toward gaining membership were halted. The topic did not resurface until Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014.
I notice you avoided the hypothetical about China putting military bases along the US border in Mexico and Canada because there's no answer to that: everybody knows we would never accept it. So why should Russia?