Well, Z has a point. Imagining is no where close to being there, I don't care how good you are at imagining.
And that isn't just a war zone, it's a house on fire, a car wreck, a flood, a wildfire, a hurricane, a tornado, etc..
The effect of being on the ground, the sights, but the smells, the desolation is something that cannot be effectively imagined.
Still, I see it as a needless security risk.
IMHO, yes, Ukraine does have a legitimate beef with Russia, which has been nibbling off bits of the former empire at every opportunity. From the Holodomor on, the Ukrainians have been leery enough of Russian imperialism, enough so that some made the Hobson's choice and sided with the Nazis in the hopes they'd get a better deal than with Stalin. Classic 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation.
Still, when they gave up the nukes, their security and sovereignty were allegedly guaranteed. Then Russians infiltrated, built resistance, had elections as only Russians (well and Democrats and tinpot dictators) can and proclaimed the area to be Russian, from Crimea to the Donbas. Then they had their 'border incursion' claiming some of the richest mineral areas of Ukraine and trying to roll up all the Black Sea Ports. Only the Ukrainians resisted.
Could they have resisted this long? Likely not, without US and European help. But they have, given the opportunity, learned to use drones to great effect against their foes and rewritten tactics to some degree, not just in close, but at a distance as well.
War is Hell, and there are men, young and old dying on both sides--not to mention the toll on civilians, something Trump is seeking to stop, but the combatants have to back off, and they aren't cooperating.
The loss of a couple million young men will have a serious long term effect on the demographics of the region, as the Muslims to the south, and those in Europe are outbreeding (for want of a better term) the traditional populations by multiples.
Now is not the time to kill off your young men in a conflict that need not have started, and the Russians are the ones who initiated it.
Regardless of past or present corruption (the feather merchants will be with you always), It needs to stop, and Ukraine needs to endure long enough to get the Russians to the table.
It isn't a question of liking it, it just is, and that sucks for every poor slob who gets wounded and left on the field, every church service that gets bombed, every child that was taken into Russia to be programmed to hate their relatives.
