This must be a mistake!

[v0031]

Also, the United States had installed several nuclear missile sites in Turkey and Italy with the range to strike Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union.
As a result, the Soviet Union felt they needed missile sites that could strike at the United States. At the same time the Cuban government wanted protection from the United States. They decided to work together and have the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba that could strike most any portion of the USA.

I think it should be the Soivet Union.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Nope, it's fine. The sentence means the Cubans were scared of the US, not that they wanted the US to protect them.

[Crumpets]

Still, the phrasing "the Cuban government wanted protection from the United States," is very ambiguous without the full context. It would be much clearer to say "the Cuban government wanted to be protected from the United States."