Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces

Note that every member can decide how it aids.

Germany aid to Ukraine was to send them 5k helmets.

Those helmets didn't do anything against Russia's missiles.

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That is, attacking a member of NATO just means that all other members must help it, but how they help, is up to them, and that help can be just a pat in the back.

We in the The West have some serious soul searching to do.

A nuclear power has attacked a sovereign state and told us to stay away or something very bad will happen.

They've been sabre rattling for weeks and weeks and we have frozen unable (or unwilling) to act. No good deed goes unpunished, every sanction has a cost etc etc but we're not ready to pay even a smallest price in order to save lives protect world peace. Or to save "western values" our leaders are wording at each opportunity.

If we really wanted to stop the invasion we'd send half a million soldiers to "hang around" in Ukraine weeks ago. Or at least we'd send them thousands of anti helicopter and antitank missiles. We cannot prevent Russia's bombing and destruction of Ukraine but the missiles would easily stop an invasion.

Russia is a country with extremely concentrated wealth and therefore power - the oligarchs are one of the few leverage points we have. If we temporarily froze (right now confisction would be more appropriate) assets owned by oligarchs in the west, deplatform them from payment systems, credit cards, universities, golden visas. Capture their yahts, jets they'd take care of Putin rather quickly. We know who they are, they're on the Forbes list posing for pictures.

Somehow we in the west eagerly go after the weak (Ottawa protesters) but cannot seam to do the same towards rich (with power and means to corrupt).

The rules based Western world has gone out of the window and we're quickly heading towards a world with two sets of rules (or rather two standards of rule enforcement).

As others have said, Ukraine isn't in NATO so there is no obligation for the US or EU to militarily come to its aid.

That said, Putin is increasing his risk appetite. Ukraine will most likely fall and have a puppet government installed, probably within weeks at most.

But then next year, what if he decides to up his ante and target one of the NATO member ex-USSR Baltic states for "reasons"?

Will NATO come to their defense militarily? Will the UK, France, Germany, as well as the US decide it is worth going to war with Russia to defend Estonia, Latvia, etc.?

What about China and Taiwan? If China decides to invade Taiwan, will anyone decide it is worth going to war with China to defend Taiwan militarily?

My prediction to those questions is - no. The authoritarian regimes have the upper hand in the current global state of affairs because the Western democracies are afraid of the consequences of going toe to toe militarily against them. I don't not sympathize - to be honest I have no clue what the solution is.

I don't think the opposite is necessarily true. If the US were to attack a country that Russia or China would truly lose face over (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. frankly are not), I feel Putin or Xi would, in fact, choose to wage war.

It also has the following affect: """Don't the Russians already own Chernobyl? I guess it must not be in Russia. I saw a movie and I think they were speaking Russian. Wow they must be crazy actually entering a radiation zone, won't half of the troops die from exposure. I wouldn't want my son fighting those lunatics."""

"I don't think Putin is worried about loss of life of Ukrainian citizens."

Then he would just shell and flatten all the ukrainian cities. Russia has air superiority as far as I know.