Is Defending Ukraine A Vital US Interest?

Personally I don't think so. Neither did President Obama. He let Russia take over Crimea and other parts of Ukraine in 2014.

America is taking on a record amount of debt, inflation is at record highs, China is a much bigger danger than Putin trapped in the Ukrainian steppes.

It is vital to preventing the US public from knowing how much payola the Biden's received.

Lindsey Graham, (R-SC) is helping Slo Joe. He announced that U.S. fighters should shoot down Russian airplanes that interfere with our drones.
The administration has stated that the Black Sea is "very, very deep" where the drone went down and they did not think that the Russians would be able to recover the drone. What will be the Administration's response when they recover air to surface missiles? Are you old enough to remember or have you read about the U2 fiasco?

At first, I thought that this was from a satire cite such as Babylon Bee.

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/mar/15...&bt_ts=1678961265008

It is being reported in the European press that Russia has located the U.S. drone in the Baltic Sea and will be sending salvage crews down. Do you think that it will mysteriously explode before the Russian divers get to it?

I think it probably has a self destruct mechanism. 34 million dollar price tag should include that.

I would rather think that it will mysteriously explode as the Russian divers get to it?

If it was detonated in the presence of Russians divers and they were killed, would that be considered an act of war?
The drone is in international waters and can be salvaged by anyone. Intentional detonation or a "booby trap" detonation in which the U.S. has not notified salvagers that the drone is booby trapped would violate international sea law.

Well then warn everyone, All USA equipment can be deadly when tampered with.
Put a sticker on it.

If I understand you correctly, you would have the U.S. tell all salvagers that a drone with munitions was flying towards Russian airspace with its transponder turned off. Not a good admission to make.