The United States and its allies have been unwavering in their commitment to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. US President Joe Biden has made it clear that the US will not tire of backing Ukraine, and the US Congress has approved more than $100 billion in aid to Kyiv. This is a necessary step to advance US national interests, as a Russian victory in Ukraine would be a threat to the entire global community.
The US has used two main tools to back Kyiv: aid and sanctions against Russia. The Biden administration has been dispensing military, humanitarian and budgetary aid to Kyiv, while the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Moscow. Despite opposition from some US politicians, Washington should be able to maintain this level of support to Kyiv in the long term.
Experts agree that the amounts of money being spent are a small price to pay for the alternative of a Vladimir Putin victory. Igor Lukes, a professor of international affairs at Boston University’s Frederick S Pardee School of Global Studies, said that if Putin were to conquer Ukraine and get to its western borders, Russia would be “eyeball to eyeball” with several NATO countries. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed this assessment at the United Nations Security Council on Friday, saying that “nations around the world continue to stand with Ukraine because we all recognise that, if we abandon Ukraine, we abandon the UN Charter itself and the principles and rules that make all countries safer and more secure.”
Despite this unified stance, a small but vocal contingency of far-right legislators in the US Congress have been increasingly critical of Washington’s aid to Ukraine. Matthew Pauly, an associate professor of history at Michigan State University, said no one can advance a “reasonable argument” that a Russian victory in Ukraine would not threaten US interests. He described the war in Ukraine as a “discernible” threat to the US, saying that expenditures are justified because the security threat is real.
The US-led alliance has a collective defence pact, meaning an attack on one country is considered an attack on all. US officials have called for a “just and durable” peace in Ukraine, which would entail “the liberation of all Ukrainian territory”, including Crimea. Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, said it will be up to the Ukrainian government to decide where to draw the line.
Though Putin has signalled that Russia will not relent and will pursue the conflict for the long run, Miles said that the Russian army has been “greatly degraded” after “taking a beating” over the past year. He also played down Moscow’s nuclear threats or risks of direct confrontation between the US and Russia, saying that a world in which there are no consequences for states with nuclear weapons for grotesque misbehaviour is a more dangerous world.
It is clear that Washington must continue to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. The US must maintain its commitment to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements for as long as it takes. This is not only necessary for Ukrainians but also for global security and stability. The US must continue to stand up for freedom and oppose Putin’s foreign aggression in order to protect its national interests.