ASIDE from sanctions, which came swiftly and in a surprisingly unified way by the West, one of the biggest dilemmas for the West is how much military assistance it could and should extend to Ukraine.

Ukraine is not a NATO member, but it is a pro-Western ally that’s geopolitically important as a buffer state between Russia and the rest of Europe.

NATO has repeatedly said that it stands by Ukraine and its leadership under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and NATO countries have unilaterally offered and delivered weaponry to Ukraine to help it defend itself.

Without that extra support from NATO, strategists said, Zelenskyy needs to keep Ukraine at the forefront of the world’s geopolitical priorities, and to maintain other forms of support for the country.

“At this critical juncture, every significant weapons shipment he [Zelenskyy] receives, every word of support he receives and every action NATO takes helps him and help Ukraine and he’s trying to keep that squarely in the political view,” Ian Lesser, vice president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told CNBC on Thursday.

Describing Russia’s invasion and military aggression against Ukraine as “outrageous,” Lesser said it was still vital to keep up the momentum of support for the country, be it through emotional support which people around the world can give, or media coverage. However, he questioned how long such support could be sustained.

“There is already a shift in the discussion towards energy security, the cost to Western publics and economies, the stability of the international financial system. These are all very real issues of course but from Zelenskyy’s point of view, these are all distractions from the principal problem which is the fate of his people in Ukraine.”

Crucially, Lesser said, Western partners would be more inclined to keep up their support of Ukraine if they “believe that Ukraine can make good use of it.”

While Ukraine has a fighting chance of defeating Russia, analysts said that if the converse happens, President Vladimir Putin could be emboldened to attack NATO.

“Russia wants to change the security architecture in Europe, and wants to recreate the empire by taking control of Belarus and Ukraine at a minimum, so even if they aren’t able to achieve their goals now after a few years of reorganization they will try again,” senior analyst Lorenz said.

“Russia just needs to be strategically defeated,” Lorenz said, because if Putin feels that he has “achieved a victory by further undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine, or the West forces Ukraine to accept some humiliating peace conditions like the recognition of the annexation of Crimea or the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, then it will only mean that in a couple of years we’ll have war between Russia and NATO.”