He stated that Ukraine is divided and is fighting a civil war between the Ukrainian-speaking people in the northwestern part of the country and the Russian-speaking people of the southeastern part of the nation. The civil war is independent of the struggle between the US and Russia. Mearsheimer blamed the conflict with Russia on the US and its allies as they aim to peel Ukraine away from Soviet orbit and incorporate it into the West. Mearsheimer pointed out that Ukraine is not a vital strategic interest to the US, however, it is a core strategic interest to Russia, and Russian security is at stake. He said that Putin will wreck Ukraine before he allows the West to take it. Russia is a nuclear power and if its leaders believes that its survival is at stake, the threat of nuclear war looms.