>>521161170
Many people say that if the Ukrainian government is unwilling to negotiate or surrender, the conflict will go on until the Russians reach some sort of barrier that'd be easier to defend, pointing to the Dnieper river as such a barrier. The thing is, chances are that if they fight the Russians until they get pushed back to the river, the Ukrainian army might not be strong enough to prevent a crossing. So some believe that in such scenario, NATO troops might rush into western Ukraine to try to force a hard border on the river. This would make sure there's still some of Ukraine that's not under Russian direct control or influence. Such a scenario has been teased in the past by NATO authorities, with a plan being leaked a couple of years ago proposing that NATO troops would be deployed on western Ukraine with the justification of freeing up Ukranian units there to be sent east. NATO might even try to pull something like this if Odesssa is threatened, because they know that if Ukraine is land locked, it's future is absolutely screwed from an economic standpoint.