WHAT: Russia's alleged massive deployment of troops near Ukrainian border as an attempt to prevent Ukraine from entering NATO risks to trigger a spiral towards a third world war.

WHY: Russia perceives Ukraine entering NATO as an esistential threat because of hostile nuclear warheads being possibly depoyed at its doorstep, few minutes flight away from Moscow.

Nuclear weapons' very existence constitutes an obstacle towards the resolution of this crisis.

HOW: Remove the obstacle, and you will get to the destination.

The gravity of the situation justifies the adoption of unilateral de-escalation measures ahead of further peace talks, which will increase the chance of the talks being successful whilst protecting Ukraine's sovereignty:

1. Immediate restart of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (from which Trump withdrew in 2019) to ban intermediate-range missles from European land;
2. Reconsideration of the Nuclear Umbrella arrangement in Europe, under which the US provide nuclear weapons to NATO countries;
3. Propose the creation of a Nuclear-weapon-free zone (NWFZ) in Central Europe.

NATO can immediately implement actions 1 and 2. That would secure Russia's demand for its own safety, whilst not damaging NATO and Ukraine's stance:

• The deployment of economic sanctions, military aid to Ukraine and possibly conventional military forces on Ukrainian territory will be unaffected;
• NATO will not be preempted from implementing more effective containment measures against Russia, viz: conventional rearmament and anti-cyber warfare;
• A nuclear first stike from Russia in Europe would result in its own demise regardless of possible retaliations coming from Europe - therefore, intermediate-range and aircraft-mounted nuclear warheads do not add up anything relevant to NATO's own security.