Ukraine was part of the USSR until 1991. Those nukes belonged to Russia.
There are no good actors in this Soap Opera. Ukraine: the most corrupt country in Europe, a massive money laundering operation for Washington, Wall Street, the EU, and home to multiple bio labs doing things they don’t want us to know about. Russia: a kleptocracy ruled by a sociopathic thug and his buddies. The criminal miscalculations committed by all parties involved is surely of record proportions in world history. If I had to make a guess this whole thing now is about who has all the incriminating evidence. I think Russia has a lot, but wants it all for leverage, and the top people in Ukraine have a lot which they currently use for leverage to enrich and protect themselves. Yes, the MIC is making a lot of $ on the war (materiel and graft), but it probably pales to insignificance compared to the sums laundered through there over the many decades. I believe the threat of exposure for their crimes is what’s driving most of the pro-Ukraine officials. The outrage of Putin’s invasion by those that count is feigned, and their PR campaign is meant to rally the ignorant to their side. The US needs to move as far away from this as possible. The idiots in Europe have blundered into countless wars for centuries. The US just needs to step away.