[Goose]

Was Finlandization ever (or still) a possibility for Ukraine?

Good question! IMO Finlandization was possible only because of some unique circumstances. First, Russia had achieved a victorious peace against Finland in WWII but only at great cost. The Finns are not Slavs and have a very different culture than Russia. Finland and Russia have fought each other fiercely and often. Russia would never in their wildest dreams think they could "absorb" Finland culturally. Ukrainians and Russians are both East Slavs. They are linguistically and culturally "related" and Russia had more or less successfully absorbed Ukraine. Russia under the Tsar did conqueror several  Muslim states but by 1945 Soviet Russia was aware of the serious difficulties this involved. Therefore Finland was a pill the Soviets didn't want to swallow.

Second, a compliant Finland  with a very long arctic border is much superior to a border with a militantly neutral Sweden. It might have driven Sweden into NATO much earlier. The Soviet Union could rely on NATO not violating a "neutral" (though compliant) Finland's border to attack Russia. On top of that, the vast majority of the Finnish border is in very hostile arctic territory. NATO would not have an easy time attacking that way, if they could do it at all. This allowed Russia to minimally garrison the border. It is unlikely Russia could rely on that in a "neutral" Ukraine. Ukraine is just too natural an approach path to Russia by NATO and visa-versa. It would be involved in such a war either way. Therefore leaving it as "neutral" (let alone a NATO state) is regarded as an existential danger by Russia.

Third, Finland was a great conduit for the Soviet Union to import and export high technology items it could not do directly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronorgtechnica touches on the issue but talks about video games much more than the other very serious games played between Russia and Finland. This trade obviously did not exist in 1945, but it definitely grew rapidly over the years. Enough said. When Ukraine split from the Russian Federation few such import/export restrictions existed, so that path was not open to Ukraine.

For these reasons IMO "Finlandization" was not and will not be an option in Ukraine

[Goose]

Was Finlandization ever (or still) a possibility for Ukraine?

Good question! IMO Finlandization was possible only because of some unique circumstances. First, Russia had achieved a victorious peace against Finland in WWII but only at great cost. The Finns are not Slavs and have a very different culture than Russia. Finland and Russia have fought each other fiercely and often. Russia would never in their wildest dreams think they could "absorb" Finland culturally. Ukrainians and Russians are both East Slavs. They are linguistically and culturally "related" and Russia had more or less successfully absorbed Ukraine. Russia under the Tsar did conqueror several  Muslim states but by 1945 Soviet Russia was aware of the serious difficulties this involved. Therefore Finland was a pill the Soviets didn't want to swallow.

Second, a compliant Finland  with a very long arctic border is much superior to a border with a militantly neutral Sweden. It might have driven Sweden into NATO much earlier. The Soviet Union could rely on NATO not violating a "neutral" (though compliant) Finland's border to attack Russia. On top of that, the vast majority of the Finnish border is in very hostile arctic territory. NATO would not have an easy time attacking that way, if they could do it at all. This allowed Russia to minimally garrison the border. It is unlikely Russia could rely on that in a "neutral" Ukraine. Ukraine is just too natural an approach path to Russia by NATO and visa-versa. It would be involved in such a war either way. Therefore leaving it as "neutral" (let alone a NATO state) is regarded as an existential danger by Russia.

Third, Finland was a great conduit for the Soviet Union to import and export high technology items it could not do directly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronorgtechnica touches on the issue but talks about video games much more than the other very serious games played between Russia and Finland. This trade obviously did not exist in 1945, but it definitely grew rapidly over the years. Enough said. When Ukraine split from the Russian Federation few such import/export restrictions existed, so that path was not open to Ukraine.

For these reasons IMO "Finlandization" was not and will not be an option in Ukraine