On Oct. 20, 2023, the President of the United States requested from the US Congress a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine to “provide the critical training, equipment, and weapons necessary to help Ukraine defend and recapture its sovereign territory and protect the Ukrainian people against Russian aggression”.
Ukraine’s President voiced publicly that, without this financial aid, Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine could seriously take a turn for the worse.
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Almost four months later, on Feb.13, 2024, the US Senate passed an emergency defense spending bill, which included an aid package for Ukraine. However, this aid package also needed the approval of the House of Representatives, which did not consider, let alone vote on, this bill for reasons that are difficult to justify.
On April 20, 2024, the US House of Representatives is finally scheduled to vote on a new and somewhat different $61 billion aid package for Ukraine. This bill, being distinct from the one passed earlier by the U.S. Senate, will need a favorable vote by the House of Representatives and then the Senate.
Unfortunately, while this urgently needed funding is progressing at a snail’s pace, Ukraine’s civilian population is being subjected to a daily barbaric onslaught of missiles and drones that are killing and injuring civilians and destroying Ukraine’s infrastructure, especially in the energy sector, substantially raising the ultimate cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 2, 2024
One thing is painfully clear throughout this whole process – good intentions and words of encouragement alone do not stop missiles and drones.
At this critical stage, anyone still opposing the aid package to Ukraine does not seem to fully realize that Russia’s imperialist plans started with Ukraine but are destined far beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Russia started with Ukraine because the Kremlin shares the opinion that Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US. National Security Adviser, outlined in his book “Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power,” that: “It cannot be stressed enough that without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire.”
Indeed, Russia attacked Ukraine to become that empire capable of restoring the Soviet Union, whose dissolution was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century, according to Russia’s President.
Thus, it is imperative that all US decision-makers immediately take serious note of this reality and help Ukraine defend its – and Europe’s – territorial integrity against Russia’s insatiable imperialist plans.
Otherwise, by voting against the aid package for Ukraine, they will carry the unenviable burden of having contributed to eventually sending America’s youth to war, instead of school, when Russia attacks a NATO member country, forcing all other members to defend it pursuant to article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Realistically, at this stage, only a Ukrainian victory will lead to peace and security in Europe and, by the same token, the United States. Ukraine is paying for such peace and security with Ukrainian lives.
The US must do its part by delivering the necessary aid package to Ukraine without any further delay to avoid being forced, like Ukraine, to pay the ultimate price for peace and security.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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