The real "defeat" would have been enough credible deterrence by western forces that Russia would never have attempted this, with enough diplomacy they would not have felt the need to.
It's a travesty that this war ever happened, no one should feel like a winner.
> The cost-benefit analysis of US support for Ukraine is incontrovertible
No
> or somehow haven't done enough to avert it?
Well, it's patently obvious that the war wasn't averted.
>If you remember events before the beginning of confrontation, it seems that USA was bending outwards trying to prevent invasion.
I don't remember the US doing much at all when this started several years ago.
Looking at what happened, it would also have saved a lot of lives if the US and allies had used their air forces to remove Russia at the beginning of the conflict. Never agreed with the assessment that would lead to ww3 or nuclear exchange, Russia would lose or everyone would lose in both cases.
1. No full-on invasion in feb’22
2. The full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the restoration of the pre-2014 borders.
3. Ukraine being free to seek to join Nato and/or EU.
> Ukrainian lives are not worth "peanuts"
Meanwhile in one of the worst years for stocks in recent history, Northrop Grumman & Lockheed Martin are having a banner year. So this war may be bad for Ukrainians but it is clearly in the financial interests of the US war machine to keep it going as long as possible.