This is a key aspect of great powers offering public backing to smaller states that is overlooked. When Ukraine knows they have the backing of the United States, NATO, etc, their behavior in inter relations with their neighbors takes on the bravado of a state that wields a far larger power footprint then what they actually do. In normal circumstances, Ukraine would negotiate or take actions to mitigate the possibility of conflict with a much more powerful state like Russia because the power differential is a clear disparity and war serves no path to success. But when Ukraine suddenly has the military, economic, and technological assurances of these great powers, they change the way they behave towards other powers because they take on the increased power footprint provided by these other actors. It actually increases the likelihood of war because now Ukraine may view war as less likely to result in disaster and more likely to dissuade an opponent.

Of course the great powers have now interjected themselves, willingly or not, into a conflict that they would not otherwise have volunteered and they have in many ways subjugated their own decision making to the smaller state that they offered public support for, because that state may now use its new found strength to act larger in their posturing against rivals and can drag the larger actors into a conflict.

This is precisely where we stand now. And of course because we are so averse to losing face and making any concessions whatsoever in order to put an end to the war, which everyday drags us nearer and nearer towards a larger conflict that serves no national interest and could lead to global catastrophe, we continue to allow the Ukrainians to demand more and more of our resources to prop up the false power footprint they presented to Russia before the conflict. To what end?