The U.S. is missing a key opportunity to ramp up its military support to Ukraine and fuel the domestic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who could see his grip on power in the Kremlin evaporate if Russia’s invasion fails and Ukraine emerges victorious, former CIA station chief in Moscow Daniel Hoffman said Monday.
In a conversation with The Washington Times, Mr. Hoffman implored the Biden administration to send Ukrainians more missiles, drones, fighter jets and other equipment in their fight against Russian forces. Such support, he said, is crucial because the longer Ukraine is able to fend off the Russians, the greater the chances that Mr. Putin’s support in Moscow could crumble, potentially leading to the end of his two-decade reign.
“The longer Ukraine is in the fight, the more military equipment we send them, the more likely it is that the pressure gets to Vladimir Putin and we see something,” Mr. Hoffman said during Monday’s virtual event for Times subscribers.
“It’s going to be tricky. And we are at the most dangerous place in our history with Russia since the Cuban Missile Crisis. But at the end of the day, Ukraine has to win this,” said Mr. Hoffman, a Times columnist and a Fox News contributor.
As Moscow claims it is repositioning its forces across Ukraine and turning the focus of its invasion to the eastern Donbas region, the atrocities allegedly committed by Russian forces in recent weeks have become clearer. Shocking images from Bucha and other Ukrainian towns abandoned by Russian forces near Kyiv seem to show civilians who were executed at close range, some with bullets to the head and some with their hands bound.
The gruesome photos have sparked fury aimed directly at Mr. Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian regime has committed genocide in Ukraine. Across Europe, the images have added urgency to efforts to wean the continent off its dependence on Russian oil and natural gas.
In Washington, President Biden said Mr. Putin should face a war crimes trial because of his troops’ conduct in Ukraine.
“He’s a war criminal,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Putin, when asked about reports of Ukraine civilians being slaughtered by Russian troops in Bucha.
“This guy is brutal and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone’s seen it,” Mr. Biden told reporters after video surfaced showing Bucha’s streets littered with dead bodies.
“I think it’s a war crime,” the president continued. “He should be held accountable.”
But the brutality of Russian forces shouldn’t be surprising, Mr. Hoffman said.
“Civilians are not considered noncombatants,” he said. “That’s just the way the Russians operate. They are deliberately attacking Ukrainian civilians. They’ve been doing it throughout the war. They feel like that’s the only way they can hope to win the war.”
SEE ALSO: Biden labels Putin a ‘war criminal’ after viewing Bucha horrors
Mr. Zelenskyy said he fears the worst has still not been revealed. As Russian troops pull back from Kyiv and other cities, he said, the true scope of the carnage will come into view.
“The military tortured people, and we have every reason to believe that there are many more people killed,” he said. “Much more than we know now.”
The Kremlin dismissed the allegations. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the images and video are nothing more than “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation.”
Such denials are standard practice for Mr. Putin and his top deputies, Mr. Hoffman said.
“They’ll admit nothing, deny everything and make a bunch of counter-accusations,” he said. “That’s what they do.”
Missed chances
More broadly, Mr. Hoffman argued that the White House has missed several chances to increase Ukraine’s prospects for success and to ensure that the invasion ends in defeat for Mr. Putin and his forces. He argued that the Biden administration should be sending or authorizing the transfer of planes, more anti-tank weaponry and drones, and other equipment that could turn the tide. And he charged that Mr. Biden committed a strategic blunder by taking major steps to help Ukraine off the table early in the conflict for fear of a broader Russia-NATO war.
“More, more of everything, while we can. It seems to me Vladimir Putin is deterring us from doing those things and we’re taking things off the table when we shouldn’t,” Mr. Hoffman said. “The president says it would be World War III if we had a no-fly zone [over Ukraine]. I don’t know about that. What if there’s a no-fly zone over [the western Ukrainian city of] Lviv as a humanitarian corridor? What if there’s U.N. peacekeepers in Ukraine and some of those peacekeepers happen to be from NATO countries? Are you saying that’s World War III?”
Mr. Biden and NATO officials have insisted that the alliance members will not commit any ground troops to Ukraine’s defense. They also have consistently ruled out any type of no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying such a step would virtually ensure that Western and Russian forces would clash, potentially sparking a nuclear world war. The U.S. and its NATO allies have rejected calls from Mr. Zelenskyy, who pleaded for the implementation of a no-fly zone, the delivery of fighter jets, and other steps to counter the Russian invasion.
Despite early fears that his regime would collapse quickly in the face of the much larger Russian army, Mr. Zelenskyy has not only survived but also has become an inspirational figure who has rallied the West against Moscow.
“It was Zelenskyy who has mobilized the West out of the post-Cold War slumber,” Mr. Hoffman said. Ukraine right now, he added, is “on the geopolitical fault line between democracy and dictatorship.”
• Jeff Mordock and Guy Taylor contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire-service reports.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.