Image of Ukrainian fighter near Kupiansk (Credit: United24)
Ukraine’s struggle represents all of the free world, and America must provide all the aid it can muster
Russia launched its unwarranted, unprovoked, and cold-blooded invasion of Ukraine exactly two years, one month, and one day ago. Russia’s imperialistic dreams have sprung from the lingering resentment of the Cold War and now feed rivers of Ukrainian and Russian blood alike. Nobody stands to win anything from this war of Russian aggression, and it needs to end. However, this war can only end with Russia’s full surrender and retreat, the restoration of Ukraine’s borders to what they were before the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and for Ukraine to join NATO in accordance with its own stated wishes.
Recently, Netflix released a nine part documentary series entitled “Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War” which recounts the history of the Cold War and nuclear weapons and connects the events of those forty-six years to Vladimir Putin’s tenure as leader of Russia, and his ongoing war against Ukraine. It sums up the bitter history between Russia and Ukraine, Russia and the United States, and Russia and itself far better than could be done here and provides insight from experts to the reasons why Vladimir Putin started this war.
Over There
This war is taking place far from American shores. Our nights are not spent with air raid sirens screaming and missiles tearing apart our towns and killing our neighbors. Yet, we allow ourselves a special kind of arrogance to believe that war isn’t an affront to human dignity, or that we should not get involved just because the shells aren’t striking residential buildings in Seattle and offices in Indianapolis, or tanks aren’t rolling through New Orleans and attack planes aren’t making bombing runs on Manhattan.
How lucky we are to live in a place where we are safe from harm, where we feel the ability to say, “this isn’t our fight.” Except it is. The fight for liberty and self-determination is the very fight which founded this nation. That same fight is what Ukraine is fighting now. It is not the right of any one nation to determine the fate of any other. That is exactly what Putin is attempting to do.
The similar nature of Ukraine’s struggle to maintain its independence to America’s struggle to gain it is the sentimental reason as to why America should support Ukraine’s efforts in full. The realpolitik reason is that Russia is an adversary and weakening them is in America’s best efforts. The logical reason is to show a bully like Vladimir Putin that the world will knock their teeth in when they attempt to wage brutal wars of conquest against their neighbors. The emotional reason is to get revenge for all the lives lost in Russia acting like it’s the 1850s again. The introspective reason is that perhaps this can pay some of the karmic debt for America’s own sins during the Cold War. Perhaps one can believe in multiple, or even all of these reasons. The point remains, there are a variety of different reasons for America to support Ukraine with all it has.
Eastern Europeans know sacrifice as a part of life, and have for generations. Ukraine is more intimately acquainted with sacrifice than anyone. From the oppression of the Romanov reign, the brutality of the Nazis, and the occupation by the Soviets, Ukraine has been at the mercy of a greater power for most of its existence. The simple, safe solution is to roll over and accept another boot on their necks. But peace brought through wars of aggression is not peace. Instead of abandoning all the progress from the last thirty years, the people of Ukraine choose instead to fight.
We have seen our leaders balk from mean comments on the campaign trail and run away to warmer climates when the power grid fails. The Ukrainians continue to stay and fight, refusing to bow down to the Russian aggression. These are heroes, and the very least we can do is remember what they do here, with the eyes of history upon them.
Obviously, we can and should do more.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his administration have remained in their country for this war, pledging to fight until the bitter end. Zelenskyy remained in Kyiv even while the Russians were undertaking a concentrated effort to assassinate him in the early days of the war. The man is exhibiting true leadership: never asking anyone to jump into a fire which they would not also jump into themselves. When offered an extraction, Zelenskyy instead responded, “The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride.”
Let’s give the man ammunition.
The Old Stockpiles
The Cold War arms race is taught in history books. At the dawn of the atomic age, the two great powers still standing after World War II sought to continually one up each other’s nuclear capabilities. The United States successfully detonated the first atomic bomb in July 1945 at Alamogordo, New Mexico. It then detonated two more in August over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, showing the world the destructive power of one of these weapons. In 1949, the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapon, which was the starting gun of the nuclear arms race. Both nations detonated hydrogen bombs in the 1950s. Thermonuclear weapons, which are magnitudes more powerful than the earlier atomic weapons, were first detonated by the Americans in 1952, and by the Soviets in 1953. These would destroy much larger areas than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and both the United States and the Soviet Union developed deep-seated paranoia over which country would build more nuclear weapons and use them first. This spurred tense confrontation, scientific development, and generations of children growing up in fears of being incinerated by a nuclear flash.
Luckily that didn’t happen.
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union, and set in motion a series of reforms that brought down the Iron Curtain and communism itself across Europe. One of Gorbachev’s enduring legacies is the nuclear relaxation he helped lead alongside the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. By the time Gorbachev presided over the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War had been effectively over for years.
As a result of the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States began a drawdown of its military. The 1990s were seen by many as an era of peace. As a result, many excess vehicles and equipment built and prepared for a land war with the Soviet Union were no longer needed and were placed into long term storage. Over the years, technological advancements made much of this equipment obsolete for current US Military usage. Some of the equipment was scrapped as newer developments saw the end of their useful days and were placed in reserve. It’s expensive to hold onto old equipment for a war that may never come, and the new stuff doesn’t keep as well as the old. All of this equipment, which is no longer expected to be used in combat, has been maintained at a sizable expense to the US taxpayer.
Sending aid to Ukraine gives a use to this outdated equipment, takes the burden off of the American taxpayers for maintenance and upkeep, and providing Ukraine the necessary tools it needs to retaliate against Russian aggression. It has already shown to be frighteningly effective. The US has given more aid since the Forbes article was published, with regular shipments being sent to Ukraine of equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The latest was announced on March 12th, worth $300 million.
It’s important to note that when the headlines read “United States sends $XXX million worth of aid to Ukraine,” that it calculates the value of the surplus equipment being provided, not that there are pallets of cash being unloaded at Ukrainian Air Force bases from US cargo planes. This puts this equipment into use for its designated purpose and relieves the US taxpayer of the burden. It has the additional step of building closer economic ties between the US and Ukraine, in this instance. In the future, if Ukraine is buying American fighter planes, perhaps America will buy more of Ukraine’s domestic products. Nations with close relationships built on trade and cooperation tend to go to war less, and the world becomes a more peaceful place. One doesn’t often fight with their mechanic when that mechanic does a good job keeping their car in working order.
But the mechanics are the hard part here.
The largest challenges facing getting American aid to Ukraine are logistics. F-16 fighter jets would give an edge to Ukraine’s air force. Ukraine is currently utilizing a collection of late Soviet-era aircraft which, while able to be modernized and performing well against Russian forces, still don’t have enough of an advantage over the top of the line aircraft being operated by the Russian Air Force. Admittedly, top of the line for Russia is several steps behind the United States and most EU nations. Russia also cannot field as many cutting edge aircraft as they claim, with their highly touted fifth-generation stealth fighter, the Sukhoi Su-57 ‘Felon’ only numbering ten operational aircraft. For an aircraft that’s been supposedly built to compete with the American F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning fighters, ten is a shockingly low number. For comparison, America operates 186 F-22s and around 450 F-35s.
Since Russia is also using older aircraft, the F-16 Fighting Falcon, first introduced in 1978 and upgraded several times since then, would show its superiority to Russian aircraft. It’s unusual for a war with militaries of such differing sizes to have the superior force be unable to establish air superiority after a few weeks of fighting, let alone after over two years. If Ukraine is able to hang in the ring with the old aircraft they have, then newer and more advanced aircraft would work better to help continue evening the odds.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium are sending an aggregate 45 F-16s to Ukraine. US-made aircraft are temperamental and require strict maintenance schedules, and without that, will quickly lose their effectiveness and become unusable. It was one of the reasons why so much equipment was left in Afghanistan after the United States’ chaotic and rushed withdrawal from the country. There are challenges in getting the Ukrainians trained on how to maintain the F-16 aircraft and setting up the logistics and supply chains to get this equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but most
This is not an excuse for the lack of action, this is a call to speed up the process. Train more Ukrainians on Western equipment and prepare to deliver the M1 Abrams tanks and F-16 fighters that could give the Ukrainians an edge and help replace equipment lost to combat with Russian forces with greater speed, and the Russians could be driven out of Ukraine faster.
Despite being outgunned, the Ukrainians have shown that they can fight more effectively than the Russian forces, preventing Russia from gaining air superiority over Ukraine, and forcing the Russians to rely on missile and rocket attacks to strike at targets, which are far less accurate and effective. It places more civilians in danger from the indiscriminate rocket attacks, however, it allows the Ukrainian military to operate with more latitude. The F-16s would allow Ukraine to break that stalemate.
Currently, the government in Moscow shows no willingness to negotiate a withdrawal. They will remain engaged in this war for as long as Putin lives. The only way to bring this war to a close is to destroy the Russian forces operating in Ukraine. To do that, Ukraine needs the technological advantage.
The United States has already committed itself to securing Ukraine, now it must honor its word and do everything it can to support Ukraine’s fight.
The Importance of Allies
One of the most damaging moments to American reputation worldwide was in 2019 when Donald Trump abandoned the Kurds. In addition to strengthening ISIS, these actions made it seem as though the United States would be quick to abandon its allies. The withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 had a similar effect. One of the most prominent effects was the loss of the Afghan government, and that chaos which ensued. Afghanistan fell to the Taliban before the last American plane left the ground. Many veterans who served in Afghanistan felt that America had abandoned its promise to the Afghan national government and the people of Afghanistan, and other nations questioned America’s loyalty to its allies.
President Biden has been attempting to rebuild America’s reputation since the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. NATO has become stronger than ever, many of the European Union member states have pledged their support to Ukraine in the form of arms and resources, and global security risks are taken much more seriously. It is important to continue that work, and not let Ukraine suffer because it isn’t politically expedient. This is not a question that should have voting implications. This is not a question that should be debated on cable news. This is an unchecked war of aggression waged against a democratic state simply because it did not bow to a tyrant. This war is just as wrong as the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq’s 1991 invasion of Kuwait, or America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. Every nation has the right to self-determination. America claims to stand in support of democracy and the will of the people worldwide, the war against Ukraine provides the opportunity to stand by the ideals upon which this nation was founded, and prove to the world that America is attempting to build the better word it espouses.
Wars are won or lost by a nation’s allies. America’s support in the early years of World War II with the Lend-Lease program provided allied nations, especially the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, with materials they needed to fight back against Nazi Germany. Hitler’s regime, however, stood mostly on its own. There was cooperation with the Empire of Japan, but the soldiers never fought side by side. A simple look at the losing sides and winning sides can show the right allies make all the difference in warfare.
The United States should provide Ukraine with whatever aid it needs. America has the material to spare. Ukraine needs to ensure they can withstand the storm.
Standing up to Bullies
Vladimir Putin and his followers dishonor their country and every single Russian man, woman, and child who has only ever sought peace with their neighbors and the rest of the world. Russia’s actions are bloodthirsty and indefensible.
Putin has a habit of justifying his aggressive actions by claiming Russian sovereignty and rewriting history. In 1994, under the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum, in which Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for a promise never to be invaded by Russia. Vladimir Putin broke that promise in 2014 when Russian soldiers without identifying markers invaded the Crimean peninsula and supported rebellions in Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin subsequently announced that Crimea was part of Russia. Putin further violated Ukrainian national sovereignty and its past promises in 2022 with the full scale invasion of Ukraine.
His justification was that NATO (a purely defensive alliance) is encroaching on Russia territory, that Zelenskyy is leading a nation under the controls of a cabal of Nazis, and that it must be saved (Zelenskyy is Jewish), and finally that Ukraine is technically Russia anyways (Ukraine attempted to gain independence from Russia during the Russian Revolution and Civil War Period from 1917-1921). Putin’s dishonesty can be seen all over this war. Even last week’s attack in Moscow serves Putin’s interest. On March 22nd, 2024, the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, Russia was attacked by gunmen. After the attack, ISIS claimed responsibility. Putin then claimed that the attackers were headed to Ukraine, despite no evidence of that being visible yet. The claims of the suspects cannot be believed, as they were tortured during their questioning. This willingness to rewrite reality to suit his needs shows why Vladimir Putin is so incredibly dangerous to the world at large, and why in the absence of direct action, American military aid is so vital to Ukraine’s continued existence.
Russia’s status as a nuclear power, having inherited the Soviet Union’s arsenal, allows it to avoid open combat against peer adversaries for fear of the end of the world. A cornered animal will use everything at its disposal to survive and will only pick fights it believes it can win. To Putin, Ukraine seemed like an easy win. Ukraine has stood strong against the superior opponent, but Russia simply has more bodies to throw at the problem. Ukraine still needs help evening the odds.
The United States taking a firm stance against Russia, even without directly committing American forces, is a signal to the rest of the world that bullies will not be tolerated. With much of Western Europe offering aid, there is still more needed. Putin will not rest until Ukraine falls under his control and permitting that to happen will embolden every tyrant with imperialistic dreams across the world, like China with Taiwan.
The cost of this war is already too high. A cost Vladimir Putin has determined to be acceptable to fulfill his dreams of dominance over former territories to make up for the perceived humiliation of appearing weak. Tens of thousands of dead on both sides, countless more injured, and there is no end in sight.
Ukraine has, as one nation, shown it will stand up to oppression. It is up to the self-proclaimed ‘Bastion of the Free World’ to aid that noble struggle.
Glory to Ukraine!
There are countless Ukrainian heroes of this war who have received the appropriate recognition for their incredible acts of bravery and resistance. And there are still so many heroes whose names are not yet known and may never be known. However, their deeds are being witnessed, their bravery will be remembered, and their sacrifices will be honored.
Freedom at home is threatened when freedom abroad is threatened. This war is an attack on the rights of freedom and self-determination around the world. The Ukrainian people stand as the bulwark against the forces of oppression.
The free nations of the world have the chance to alleviate the suffering and show tyrants that they will never be allowed to win. By no means will ending the conflict in Ukraine magically create world peace. It is still an important step towards a better world.
Ukraine has remained unbroken when faced with the impossible task of an existential struggle against a superior foe. Despots must not be allowed to win over the free people of the world.
Liberty is a universal responsibility.
Ark of the Lost Angels 
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