“given the decades of consistent conflicts in Ukraine”
How about the centuries of consistent aggression and conquest by Russia?
It did not become the largest country on Earth by accident. It did it by being exceptionally and consistently aggressive and brutal.
NATO did not form and persist for 75 years by accident either, but in response to Russian aggressiveness and brutality.
The same claims that Russia makes today to justify its attempt to conquer Ukraine, it also makes against a dozen other countries, like Poland and the Baltics. Russia is a lawless aggressor, that must be defended against, or it will continue to attack when it is able, as it has for centuries, and throughout Putin’s tenure, with his expansionist aggressions into Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova and the Ukraine.
“one can safely assume the deciding factor, when all is said and done, will be that which identifies who ultimately has the disputed land”
Russia’s high water mark for control of Ukrainian land was around the end of March, 2022 (fifth week of this invasion). Since June 6th of this year (less than a week), Russian forces have lost more ground than they had managed to capture since January 1st.
There are a lot of Military, economic, political and diplomatic factors involved in causing that land to change hands. Those are the deciding factors. Military professionals throughout NATO, supported by more than 50 donor nations are ensuring that the deciding factors are set to return control or Ukrainian land to the Ukraine.
Putin is a career criminal who has failed in the biggest heist that he ever attempted, and is now cornered by the police. His Army has burned through the bulk of the huge stockpiles they inherited from the Soviet Union, and their production is just a small fraction of their burn rate.