Ukraine's armed forces are heavily outnumbered and outgunned by Russia's but could put up a level of resistance that would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to pay a price of many thousands of Russian lives for any new invasion.
Western military analysts say Ukraine's army is better trained and equipped than in 2014, when Russia captured the Crimean Peninsula without a fight, and highly motivated to defend the country's heartland.
For those reasons, they see it as highly unlikely that Putin would contemplate an outright conquest of Ukraine.