Clearly, the priorities now are ending the war, expelling the Russians from all of Ukraine's sovereign territory, and holding Putin and his government accountable for years of war crimes. But doing everything possible to assure the health, education, and well-being of Ukraine's children and civilians must remain front and center, too.

While the complexities of reconstruction and economic recovery will be daunting, perhaps costing well over half a trillion dollars, it is important not to lose sight of critical challenges facing Ukraine's children who have been through years of disruptive violence.

Critics invoke 'America First' as an argument for abandoning Ukraine. But helping Ukraine is America First.

No matter what President Donald Trump does, no matter how often his perspectives on the war seem to line up with Russian President Vladimir Putin's, the people of America remain strongly supportive of Ukraine.

With or without Russian participation, U.S. President Donald Trump and his highly inexperienced negotiators will continue to press Ukraine to concede territory in exchange for some kind of security arrangement. But territorial concessions to a brutal aggressor would be unconscionable for Ukraine and should be entirely unacceptable to Europe,

There are compelling reasons Ukraine should not — and in many respects cannot — agree to sacrificing territory for peace, even if security guarantees could somehow be verifiably assured.