In February 2022, Russia launched a full scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, following a nearly8 year long proxy conflict in Ukraine’s east, largely as a counter to Ukraine’s increasing ties with the West.
Given Russia’s status as one of the world’s great military powers, Russian subjugation of Ukraine was almost seen as an inevitability, but it was not to be.
Ukraine was almost immediately supplied with Western aid and able to push Russia back, reclaiming much of the territory it initially lost.
Following a series of offensives and counter offensives by Ukraine and Russia, the war has been at a stalemate and the future is uncertain.
Ukrainian resistance is built on a foundation of aggressive aid, mostly from NATO, the EU and their individual member states and allies. This aid has been large and broad, covering areas ranging from tanks, helicopters and ammunition to the lowering of tariffs and offering of large grants.
At this point, the United States gave around $75 billion worth of aid to Ukraine, leading all other donors by a large margin, according to the Council of Foreign Relations.
Contrary to this aid, the U.S. Department of Defense has characterized Ukraine’s current situation as dire, as casualties mount and supplies and other aid begins to dry up. The Biden administration has long supported continued funding for Ukraine, but have run into obstacles at home.
Some just don’t believe Ukraine can win the war, claiming that the U.S. is wasting money and prolonging bloodshed, and believing in a future that sees the U.S. less involved in foreign affairs.
The other prominent group, which consists mostly of a subset of Congressional Republicans, recently opposed a large security bill that would provide tens of billions for Ukraine due to concerns that it didn’t do enough for border security.
Other common points of opposition include the belief that the U.S. should be pushing for peace and belief that American funds would be better spent domestically.
As funding for Ukraine has become more polarizing, these ideas in opposition have begun to grow, but many are misguided and harmful.
To begin, the idea that this war is unwinnable for Ukraine doesn’t hold much weight. Ukraine has recovered much of its lost territory and has completely surpassed expectations thus far. There’s no reason they can’t continue to do so with proper support.
Opposition to the security bill has also been misguided, as the legislation would make critical contributionsto ongoing border issues and includes over $20 billion in provisions.
Notions that assert the U.S. should be pushing for peace instead of “fueling war” essentially raise the white flag for Ukraine. Any forced peace settlement would almost certainly involve Ukraine ceding territory to Russia, which is not something that it seems either the people or government of Ukraine support.
Finally, it should be noted that most of American aid to Ukraine consists not of actual money, but rather of American weaponry that would often have gone unused in stockpiles as well as training, intelligence, and logistics support. Monetary aid is also being provided, though it represents a small fraction of American expenditures, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Fundamentally, the war in Ukraine is about freedom and self determination. It represents the right of a people to choose their own economic and political destiny, regardless of who their neighbors are, and that is precisely why Ukraine deserves American support.
If the U.S. surrenders to aid opponents at home, it risks strengthening the idea of spheres of influence and larger, more powerful countries getting to make decisions for their weaker neighbors, and that just should not be acceptable.
