Abstract. The situation in Ukraine is often interpreted by Western analysts as a conflict that changes the rules of the game in world politics. This text is dedicated to the analyzes of the Ukrainian crisis and stresses the point that Ukrainian con-flict’s assessments as «game-changer» are largely a consequence of the large-scale investment of political, military and financial resources by Western countries in Ukraine. Western politicians have made such serious bets in recent years (at least since 2014), exaggerating the conflict to the level of an existential conflict against the forces of «absolute evil» or confrontation between «democracy» and «authoritarianism», that they can no longer search for a compromise or, especially, just step aside. As a result, assessments of this kind take on the meaning of self-fulfilling prophecies. And Ukrainian civil war turned to a dangerous regional conflict, so taking into account the interests of external actors and Western states readiness to continue to invest resources in the confrontation with Russia in Ukraine, the duration of the «unipolar moment» in the system of international relations, as well as the parameters of the emerging new world order, really begin to depend directly on the outcome of the initially absolutely peripheral conflict.