As the endgame looms over the proxy war in Ukraine, the catastrophic costs of the unwarranted conflict continue to soar. Four years later, Ukraine, now under President Poroshenko, joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). To Ukraine’s President Zelensky, the BRI meant an alternative future that would be more stable and prosperous. Hammering Ukraine into a military-industrial hubFrom 1991 to 2014, the U.S. flooded Ukraine with $4 billion in military assistance, even though it wasn’t a NATO member. To date, the U.S. alone has provided $67 billion in military assistance since February 2022 and $70 billion in military assistance since 2014.