best possible outcome is that we fund,train, and arm the UA. russia again fights a long and bloody war of occupation against a foreign country that is backed by the US and again implodes in spectacular fashion. the downtime will allow for belarus, ukraine, armenia, and georgia to join NATO as well as the EU if they so desire. russia will limp back, again, finding itself utterly isolated unless it is willing to behave on an international stage. meanwhile, china will laugh all the way to the bank being the only ones propping up russias meager economy through all of this with favorable trade agreements.
russia is overly proud and arrogant beyond their capabilities. they need to be broken like dogs.