The current situation between Russia and Ukraine has always been volatile, but now it’s looking like war could be a real possibility. Earlier this year, Russia had started to move troops to their border with Ukraine and amass medical supplies and equipment into a huge invasion force of over 100,000 troops.

Many European countries have been warning of Russian aggression and this past week the United Nations Security Council held a meeting with Russia in hopes of peaceful resolution, but Russia has not accepted any of the demands to step down and remove their troops from the border. Russia has sent a list of demands to the U.N., but they were deemed irrational and many believe they were made so intentionally to give Russia another reason to declare war.

The current stance of the United States is that we will defend Ukraine and our European allies if Russian aggression does not stop. But is this the right thing for the U.S.? The United States has played a major role in policing the world ever since World War II. This has gotten the U.S. into many conflicts like the Korean War and Vietnam, both of which quickly lost public support in the United States.

The U.S. has a responsibility to protect freedom around the world and defend its allies. Although Ukraine is not officially a member of the U.N., it would pose a serious problem to many of the Unites State’s European allies if Russia was allowed to invade without any consequences. 

So, should the U.S. be involved? Yes and no. The United States should not commit to another big European war. It is not in the U.S. people’s best interest to go to war with Russia. It is also not in our interest to abandon our allies and allow Russia to take over neutral countries whenever they want.

So far, the U.S. has taken a good in-between stance, sending supplies and a small number of troops to support our allies in Europe. No troops have been sent to Ukraine directly, but neighboring U.N. countries have received troops and Ukraine troops have been trained in the U.S.

Of course, the best course of action is diplomacy and Russia has finally started to open up to the possibility of peacefully de-escalating the situation. Hopefully, the whole situation blows over and Russia realizes that this entire situation is a lose-lose and they have nothing to gain from this unwarranted aggression.