Last week, the U.S. deployed an advanced air defense system, and dozens of troops to protect Israel from Iranian missiles, but that level of help is not being used to help Ukraine. They are still facing several Russian attacks daily. The people of Kyiv are calling this a double standard.

“If the allies shoot down missiles together in the sky of the Middle East, why is there still no decision to shoot down drones and missiles over Ukraine?” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked last month.

The reason why the U.S. acts boldly in helping Israel and cautiously in Ukraine is clear: Russia is armed with nuclear weapons and Iran isn’t.

Two Biden administration officials made the point that, “The tough answer that Ukrainians may not like to hear but is unfortunately true is that we can take the risk of shooting down Iranian missiles over Israel without triggering direct war with Tehran that could lead to nuclear war, there’s a lot more risk in trying that with Russia.” 

Sending U.S. forces to shoot down Russian weaponry is definitely not a good way to keep the (somewhat) peace that America has with Russia and could trigger a direct military showdown between two of the world’s top nuclear powers.