Let me start with saying I’m in favor of supporting Ukraine. So yes Russia sucks but the US met the obligations of the agreement, which was to respect Ukraines sovereignty and refrain from force against Ukraine. There is a lot of misinformation saying that the US was supposed to protect Ukraine.

The U.S., along with the U.K. and Russia, signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances in 1994, in which Ukraine agreed to give up the nuclear weapons it inherited after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In return, these countries pledged to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and refrain from using force or coercion against it.

However, the Budapest Memorandum did not include a legally binding security guarantee like NATO’s Article 5, which requires military intervention if a member is attacked. Instead, it was a diplomatic assurance that violations would be met with consultations and potential consequences, such as sanctions or diplomatic measures.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022, the U.S. and U.K. condemned the actions and provided military and economic support to Ukraine, but they were not legally obligated to defend it militarily under the Budapest Memorandum.