UAHW Urges Democrats to Continue Strong Support of U.S. Ally: Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of and war against Ukraine

The defeat of Russia is in the direct and immediate interest of the United States. This result is necessary for the stability of a post-WW II world order, is in the interest of our NATO allies and is most definitely in the interest of America’s staunch ally, Ukraine. The defeat of Russia can take several forms, but UAHW supports all elements of the Peace Plan proposed by President Zelensky, which includes the imperative that Ukraine fully regains its pre-2014 territorial integrity, the return of stolen children and abducted citizens of Ukraine, and the release of all POWs.

The Russian invasion has dramatically challenged the post-war international order that America helped create and maintain, an order that brought unparalleled peace and prosperity to the democracies of the Euro-Atlantic alliance. Defeat of Russia’s current and profoundly brutal aggression is specifically in the interests of all of our NATO allies that border on or are in Russia’s vicinity; any current success would only whet Russia’s appetite for further malign activity through subversion, hybrid warfare or direct invasion, which, in turn, would implicate our Article 5 obligations.

There is in addition the matter of our obligations. In the early 1990s we prevailed upon Ukraine to surrender its nuclear arms to Russia and not develop new nuclear weapons. In return, in the Budapest Memorandum signed by President Clinton we made assurances to Ukraine with respect to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In addition to the strategic and moral benefits of the full defeat of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, the economic consequences of not doing so also must be considered. At the end of the Cold War, America reduced troop levels in Europe from more than 400,000 to less than 100,000. If Russia were to prevail in Ukraine, the United States would be forced to return to maintaining Cold War levels of troops and bases in Europe. Such a scenario would require another long-term and uncertain commitment by the United States and would be astronomically expensive.

The Biden-Harris Administration has done an outstanding job of beginning with an alert to Ukraine and the world of Russia’s impending invasion, of mobilizing and organizing a worldwide alliance of democracies to aid Ukraine, of providing Ukraine with essential military assistance, including arms, training, intelligence, as well as by providing important financial support and humanitarian aid.

We now call upon the Harris-Walz team to help end the war by providing Ukraine with the resources and approvals to expel the Russian invaders permanently and to end the destruction, death, and atrocities that Russia has visited upon Ukraine.