The purpose of this study is to analyse the setting, causes, conditions, and nature of the political, ideological, and military conflict in Ukraine, not only from the country's internal perspective but also from a broader regional and global perspective, taking into account all the parties involved in and implicated by the development of the dispute. The analysis therefore requires sustained reference not only to Russia's interests and positions but also to those of the United States and Europe in relation to Ukraine, as well as to the importance of Ukraine for both sides and for their own relationship with one another. The conflict in Ukraine, and the balance of interests and power among the major powers surrounding it, have implications that are not merely regional but global. One hypothesis examined here is that the containment of Russia has retained an important place in US foreign policy and has, with qualifications and divergences, received the support of numerous European allies. The European Union and NATO, however, do not constitute a single institutional bloc and do not have identical memberships; their policies will therefore be analysed separately. The problem as a whole will be approached from an analytical and interpretative perspective grounded in the historical reconstruction of Russo-Ukrainian relations and in the comparison of rival explanations.