I used to be in the same boat as OP, but since trying to degoogle I (obvioisly) stopped buying Premium and instead buy into Patreon of select creators. If there was some sort of degoogled Youtube Premium that would go towards support of people I watch, I'd much rather opt for that (obviously a very theoretical proposition) - I can support only so many via Patreon, even if all would have a 1$ tier.
Of course, when buying Premium part of my motivation was my comfort. It was comfortable support via Premium or uncomfortable support via ads. Patreon is fine but you can't feasibly pay for one for every creator who's video you watched
I live in one country that could be next. Putin already has useful idiots here daying thay we should leave NATO. Putin also tried to push for these countries thay used to be in the Russian sphere of influence not to be in NATO.
You make one step back and Putin makes two forward.