University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer said in a YouTube interview that Western countries are underestimating the risks of their policy toward Russia as they continue to arm Ukraine and escalate tensions.

He noted that European states are increasing their support for Ukraine by providing more advanced intelligence and improved drones. In his view, the idea that such a strategy could push Russia out of the ranks of major powers is misguided.

Mearsheimer argued that the West is behaving with excessive complacency toward Moscow, overlooking the fact that Russia is a nuclear state. He stressed that actions of this kind cannot remain without consequences and said he was surprised by how little Western elites appear to grasp the scale of the risks involved.

According to the professor, there is a clear sense that policymakers in the West do not fully understand how dangerous the current course may be as tensions with Russia continue to rise.

Moscow has previously maintained that arms deliveries to Ukraine will not change the situation on the battlefield but will prolong the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also stated that NATO is involved not only through weapons supplies but also through the training of Ukrainian troops.