Ukraine

Our objective is what exactly?

After the fall of the Soviet Union led to Ukrainian independence that nation found the world’s third largest stockpile of nuclear weapons on its soil. Ukraine could not launch the weapons, because the ability to do so remained in the hands of the Russian military, but it had physical control of them. It was widely feared that in time Ukraine would be able to re-engineer these weapons, giving Ukraine the ability to use them.

Photo by Burgess Milner on Unsplash

Wanting to contain nuclear proliferation, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom all promised to respect Ukrainian sovereignty, and provided “assurances” of assistance if Ukraine were attacked. China and France provided Ukraine with similar promises.¹

In exchange for these promises Ukraine transferred the nuclear weapons on its soil to Russia.

These promises did not include a guarantee that the United States or any other signatory would go to war in order to defend Ukrainian sovereignty.²

This is the obligation of the United States to Ukraine, and the primary reason our nation has been funding its defense from Russian invasion.

Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression has been impressive. From the first mobilization, brave Ukrainian fighters have stood up for their country, and fought the powerful Russian military to a standstill.

But, that’s the problem Ukraine faces now. The war is at a standstill. Russia isn’t winning, but neither is Ukraine, and Ukraine’s soldiers are dying.

Given that the population of Ukraine was 38 million in 2022, and Russia’s stood at 144.2 million in that same year, Ukraine will run out of lives to sacrifice long before Russia does.

Indeed Ukraine has recently changed laws to expand the draft to those not previously eligible, and is considering further changes which would allow even more men to be drafted into its military forces.³

Ultimately, Ukraine is stuck in an unwinnable war, fought in trenches and ruined cities. Sacrificing its population in a doomed cause. All while being cheered on by western leaders.

Given that the United States has funded a great deal of Ukraine’s efforts in the war, and has continually urged Ukraine to keep up the fight⁴ it is reasonable to wonder what the objective of the United States is.

I fear that as with failed American adventures in the past, we don’t have a clear objective, and no picture of what ‘winning’ would look like.

Surely our objective can’t be to keep funding Ukraine until its people are bled completely dry, but it certainly looks as if it is.

Weakening Putin’s Russia may be a wonderful fantasy, but it is hard to see how it can be moral to sacrifice an entire people to do so.

The time for peace has come.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum

2. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2023/nov/09/chris-christie/fact-checking-chris-christie-on-us-security-obliga/

3. https://www.deccanherald.com/world/zelenskyy-lowers-draft-age-to-shore-up-ukraines-depleted-army-2963961

4. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/09/us/politics/biden-putin-tucker-carlson-peace.html