Ukraine's war is legitimate national defense deserving full support

The position holds that Ukraine's war is a legitimate defence of its sovereignty and deserves full and sustained Western support. Its advocates insist on the terms full-scale war and full-scale invasion: in the position's own logic, the wording sets the stakes at their maximum from the first day, makes partial outcomes harder to accept and keeps Western support framed as the response to total aggression. They also cite Russian aggression, territorial integrity, accountability and a just peace.

The position is voiced by outlets from European Union countries, 40 on Russia's war in Ukraine and 29 on peace negotiations, and by outlets from Western and allied countries: 31 on battlefield operations, 31 on the long-range war, where it treats strikes on the war economy as legitimate, and 33 on Western military and economic aid.

One competing position calls the war a defensive special military operation and Ukrainian strikes terror. Another calls it a US and NATO proxy war that Western aid only prolongs and says it should be frozen and settled. In recent months Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia, Russian strikes hit Kyiv and a train near the Polish border, and the EU approved a defence package for Ukraine.