Yes, you need to nip it in bud now once and for all, because if you don't, you will end up back at the coldwar situation, masses of troops stationed overseas for years at a time.
The problem is getting that over to Joe public as the knee jerk reaction will be" you could plow that money into the NHS" etc.
The trouble is they will not see it as spend now on the military to save spending even more on it later.
Putins army needs to be well and truly routed with his major equipment depleted or destroyed on the fields of Ukraine, to such an extent it will not be fit for a generation or more to attempt anything like this again, we need to support them NOW and in sufficent quantities, both in time and sustained replenishment, only then will there be a chance of peace.