Bet you any amount of money you've never been to Russia or Ukraine, have you?
I have - and I learned that are charming, likeable people who would cut our throats if they felt like it.. But armed, open warfare is an escalation we can't afford to ignore.
Zelensky has jailed and tortured his opposition and shut down newspapers who spoke against his efforts. He was put in place after a coup to overthrow a "democratically elected president" which was back, supported, and engineered by the United States. Crimea and the Donbas have always been disputed and a large amount of the population in that area has and will continue to support Russia.
Okay smart guy, what makes them "independent"?