OPINION:
One week before the 1-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, I completed an extensive trip to Ukraine. It was the 4th since the war began and since the founding of the Ukraine Freedom Alliance.
These visits have included significant time in Kyiv but also travel across Ukraine, including the war contact line from Mykolaiv in the south to Zaporizhia in the east. The Ukraine Freedom Alliance has provided over $10 million in aid to Ukraine special operations, and other Ukraine end users, ranging from food to combat medical supplies to the coordination of non-lethal defense systems. Our multifaceted interaction has provided a larger perspective on what the United States’ policy should be towards the war with Russia and how to do both what’s right and what’s smart for Ukraine and America.
The misguided calls from some on the U.S. political left and right to not have a “blank check” policy funding Ukraine’s defense, calling for resources to be reallocated from Ukraine to the U.S. southern border and to ignore Ukraine in favor of China, misses the point.
There could be no greater contribution to our combating China’s threats to the United States than eliminating our second greatest threat - Russia. The Russian army is being whipped in Ukraine. Exposed as a fraud and disseminated at a current cost of under $120 billion to America and under 1% of the U.S. GDP. This is a bargain return on investment, all with no American lives lost.
As far as determining what’s right for the U.S. to do, you must have the Ukraine people in your heart and mind. The Ukrainian people stand for their family’s future, including a free, prosperous, and fair outlook free from Russian oppression. Ukrainians will recover and rise from the ashes of war as a Phoenix, becoming valuable members of a democratic world. Ukrainians will never forget the crimes and atrocities of Russians on the people of Ukraine. The only possible end of the war for the Ukrainian nation is a total victory against Russia.
The definition of victory is simple. First, Russia needs to return to Ukraine all internationally recognized territories, and victims of Russian crimes should get justice through trials of war criminals. Also, Russia shall pay to restore and rebuild the Ukraine economy, infrastructure, and households they destroyed. Finally, Russia needs to be stopped from aggressive future attempted land grabs of independent, peaceful neighbors. In an ideal world, Russia should be denuclearized and demilitarized, but that might be a bridge too far.
Any other result won’t bring long-term stability and peace to Europe. If Russia keeps part of Ukrainian territory and has not paid the price for crimes, in a year or two, a new war will emerge. But Ukraine will be weak without the economic recovery and loss of population. This all will likely end up with a big war, where US soldiers may be fighting and dying.
Right now, the US should vastly accelerate weapons transfers and close the skies with F-16s to Ukraine. Faster delivery of M-1 tanks, armored vehicles, longer range weapons to reach Russia, including Blackhawks and other US rotary and fixed-wing assets, could win the war. It is time to end the stalemate in 2023 and send Putin home. We need to give Ukraine weapons but most important, the U.S. needs to give Ukraine the ability to win, as House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) said recently.
The concern over Russian nukes cannot continue to tie the hands of U.S. options. Most experts agree that there will be no nuclear response from Putin. We must ‘not take counsel of our fears’ and realize the Russian generals won’t allow Putin to go nuclear. His troops are not trained or prepared for such actions. They have no radiation suits or other materials to execute such an act. Moreover, such a rogue action would bring NATO in the fight and would spell a certain end for Putin, likely by his own people. Weak in Kyiv, we need to give Ukraine enough military aid for victory, not a stalemate.
After the victory, the U.S. should set up a new, generational NATO lend-lease program for all of Europe, including Ukraine. During World War II, America’s lend-lease program provided $16 billion to save Europe. That translates into $600 billion in today’s dollars. For the fiscal hawks, remember that almost all this money was paid back. Any military aid would come in the form of the sale of western defense equipment that will transform Ukraine off Soviet-era weapons and onto U.S. platforms. Along with immediate NATO and EU membership, this program would solidify Ukraine as the citadel of the Western Front with Russia and secure what is certainly going to be a well-armed border for decades to come.
Ukraine is a future Phoenix. It is time for help from the Eagle.
• Phil Anderson is president of the Ukraine Freedom Alliance.
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