As the War in Ukraine has dragged on, many Americans have gotten impatient. The war has very much become a partisan issue, as an Associated Press poll finds that 59% of Republicans feel that the U.S. is spending too much on Ukraine, compared to 40% of Democrats feeling that the U.S. is spending too little on Ukraine.
And while the amount of funding for Ukraine is up for debate, the support for Ukraine shouldn’t be. In this piece, I will lay the case for defending Ukraine, and hopefully convince you all that it isn’t in vain. Also, a side note, these are not the only reasons why defending Ukraine is necessary, but it's the ones that I decided to bring up.
The Polish Minister of Defense, Mariusz Blaszczak explained during a conversation with U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, that “the imperialistic policy of the Russian Federation requires from us and all the allies complex activities and complex deterrence and defense” (U.S. Department of Defense, 22). Elliot Davis writes that “Putin… [remains] aggrieved by the collapse of the USSR, and feels Russia has a claim to the former Soviet Republic” (Davis, 24). Indeed, Alexander Smith writes that in Putin's televised speech “[Putin] described Ukraine as ‘historically Russian land that was stolen from the Russian empire…’” (Smith, 22). This is a very lopsided way to say that Putin believes, or is attempting to justify his attack by saying, that Ukraine belongs to Russia anyway. This is just untrue. Ukraine has been a sovereign nation following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and saying otherwise would be discrediting the existence of Ukraine. In fact, the Kyiv U.S. Embassy tweeted (or X-ed?) out a meme, utilizing the fact that Kyiv has existed long before Moscow.
Putin's intentions are clear, however: he wants to restore the glory of the Russian Empire, and Ukraine is just his first step. Liudas Dapkus and Karl Ritter write that "Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians... [are worried] that they could be the next target" (Dapkus and Ritter, 22). Jaunius Kazlauskas, who lives in Lithuania's capital, laments that the democracy of Lithuania can no longer "be taken for granted." This is incredibly worrying, considering that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are all NATO members, and are protected by Article 5, which says that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
This leads to the first reason why we should defend Ukraine, since leaving NATO is not an option at all, an invasion of any one of those countries would force America into bringing their own troops, costing significantly more than any amount of aid being sent to Ukraine right now. So even if Ukraine is costing a lot, an invasion of a NATO country would cost significantly more, including American blood.
Caption: An invasion of a NATO country would be far more catastrophic for Americans
Next, let's tackle a common misconception, that the money is only contributing to Ukraine, and we need to put America first. While there is no doubt that we should put America first, Marc Thiessen of The Washington Post explains that "[the money] that Congress has allocated to arm Ukraine is not being spent in Ukraine. It's going primarily to Americans — either to replace weapons sent to Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles or to build the weapons we send to Kyiv" (Thiessen, 23). What this means, is that sending arms to Ukraine is also helping America, by re-powering our defense industry, and replacing our Soviet-Era weapons with more modern ones. Thiessen continues, that "[aid] to Ukraine creates jobs in the United States and energizes its defense industrial base, which had dangerously atrophied after the Cold War" (Thiessen, 23). In fact, Seth Jones of CSIS finds that "the United States would likely run out of... munitions... in less than one week in a Taiwan Strait conflict (Jones, 23). The War effort helps the United States back to its feet militarily, ensuring preparedness for a conflict with China if one occurs.
Finally, let's look at the alternative: What would the world look like if America stopped sending aid, letting Russia win the war? Marc Thiessen explains that "[a] Russian victory would further popularize the 'decline of the West' narrative... China's and Russia's influence would rise at our expense" (Thiessen, 23). Not only would NATO countries be threatened, which was the first point, but the World Order would drastically change. The credibility of America to defend her democratic allies would be drastically damaged, as autocracies interested in invading neighbors, like Venezuela and China, would feel emboldened seeing new evidence of American decline. Democratic norms would decline as a result, and Russian and Chinese imperialism would increase, leading to a world that the West has tried to prevent since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War era.
The Ukranian war is not just a distant conflict that the United States can willingly ignore. It's an important test of the values of democracy and freedom, not just for Ukrainians, but for the entire world. Putin's aggression isn't an isolated incident, but rather proof of his imperialist ambitions to reshape the World Order in his favor. If we are unable to stop him, it emboldens not only Putin but other autocrats and the rhetoric of the declining West. It's time to end partisan bickering and isolationism and affirm: America must support the defense of freedom, democracy, and the values that define us as a nation.
Works Cited
Dapkus, Liudas, and Karl Ritter. “Ukraine Attack Leaves Baltics Wondering: Are We Next?” AP News, 24 Feb. 2022, apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-estonia-race-and-ethnicity-soviet-union-187f098422b7a3170143de238865b526. Accessed 3 Mar. 2024.
Davis, Elliot. “EXPLAINER: Why Did Russia Invade Ukraine?” USNews, 23 Feb. 2024, www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/explainer-why-did-russia-invade-ukraine. Accessed 3 Mar. 2024.
Groves, Stephen, and Linley Sanders. “US Adults Fracture along Party Lines in Support for Ukraine Military Funding, AP-NORC Poll Finds.” AP News, 29 Feb. 2024, apnews.com/article/poll-ukraine-aid-congress-b772c9736b92c0fbba477938b047da2f. Accessed 3 Mar. 2024.
Jones, Seth G. “Empty Bins in a Wartime Environment: The Challenge to the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.” Www.csis.org, 23 Jan. 2023, www.csis.org/analysis/empty-bins-wartime-environment-challenge-us-defense-industrial-base.
“Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Holds a News Conference with Polish Minister of N.” U.S. Department of Defense, 18 Feb. 2022, www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/2940543/secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-holds-a-news-conference-with-polish-min/. Accessed 3 Mar. 2024.
Smith, Alexander. ““Very Strange”: Putin’s Version of Ukraine’s History Baffles and Concerns Experts.” NBC News, 22 Feb. 2022, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-russia-ukraine-history-speech-rcna17132.
Thiessen, Marc A. “This Is the “America First” Case for Supporting Ukraine.” Washington Post, The Washington Post, 30 May 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/30/ukraine-counteroffensive-support-america/.
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