By taking matters into his own hands, Vladimir Putin did what he had warned he would do in the years leading up to this crisis. Putin has always made it clear that NATO in Ukraine was a red line for Russia. Having realized that his concerns would never be properly addressed by his western counterparts, Putin decided to take radical action to stop the alliance's expansion.

The Ukrainian people have already paid a heavy price, which will almost certainly grow much greater if this conflict is allowed to continue. And even though there is now no intention among the players involved to broaden the field of military operations, there is always a very real danger of escalation as these kinds of contingencies tend to be highly unpredictable.

There is, however, an easy way to put an end to this calamitous situation. This can be done by western guarantee that Ukraine will stay militarily neutral for the foreseeable future.

This is the only reasonable and moral course to take under present circumstances.

It is important to acknowledge the hard reality that Ukraine will not become part of NATO anytime soon. Vladimir Putin has made it sufficiently clear that he is not going to allow this to happen, and he is willing to fight to the death over this issue. It is not a fight we should get pulled into, not least because America does not have a vital national interest in Ukraine as such, much less in Ukraine being part of NATO. That by itself should suffice to keep us from confronting Putin over this matter.

Ukraine has never been part of NATO. Have we suffered some hardship, danger, distress, disadvantage, or loss because of it? Things were just fine for us – as well as the rest of the world – with Ukraine not being in NATO. Why should we now suddenly risk a conflict with Russia over Ukraine's entry into that organization?