Ukraine's goal is to regain control of territory currently occupied by Russia, including Crimea, and potentially see Russia break up into smaller countries. Mea

Ukraine's goal is to regain control of territory currently occupied by Russia, including Crimea, and potentially see Russia break up into smaller countries. Meanwhile, the United States aims to weaken Russia as a potential threat to NATO countries, but not to the point of its collapse, as they prefer to avoid having Russia become dominated by China. While some NATO countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe and the UK, may support Ukraine in its efforts, others would have been quite content with Russia taking over much of Ukraine and ending the conflict in March 2022. There are powerful forces at play that are attempting to pressure Ukraine into accepting a compromised peace out of fear of a nuclear conflict with Russia. There are concerns that the support provided by the United States may not be sustained in the long term. As a result, Ukraine has considered adopting a more self-reliant approach to defense, similar to that of Israel, which is known for being proactive in its self-defense efforts. Those same ideas are now circulating in much of Eastern Europe, and I suspect in many other middle size countries. The message is clear as day, if you want to be safe, you too have to have nuclear weapons.