Being a U.S. state means you get a 200-year old legal system (time-tested, including anti-curruption laws), you get the full power of the U.S. military (no need to fund your own), you get the full power of the U.S. dollar, including the ability to issue debt, mortgages etc. at very low interest rates, and you get hundreds of billions of reconstruction and investment funding. You still get to have a state government with quite a bit of power and retain your cultural identity. If this is what you consider being the "dog of the U.S.", that would be one really fucking happy dog. If Ukraine joins EU after the war, as a "sovereign state", does it get ANY of those things above? What will the reality on the ground look like, exactly?