i guess ukraine, being in europe, is more like nato’s backyard or home turf than afghanistan (even though ukraine is obviously those things for russia, too). iirc, ukraine was the best armed and trained military in europe outside of russia before the war. nato had been pumping it full of guns, money, and specialists since 2014 so a loss after all that, and right on their borders, will sting more than the loss in afghanistan. ukraine losing also means a win for russia, while the loss in afghanistan was really only a win for the taliban, who of course aren’t really big players on the world stage