Betraying Ukraine will not make America great

“A shining city upon a hill” — in the words of John Winthrop and Ronald Reagan, America has long been a nation guided by principle and purpose. To uphold this legacy, we cannot fail the simplest of tests: recognizing, condemning and deterring international aggression.

Russia’s war on Ukraine will end when Moscow stops waging it. Yet, three years in, political discourse in Washington has muddied what should be obvious to a child: the war cannot be resolved with a handshake or a simple “deal.”

This is an unprovoked war of aggression — a criminal act. Only the Russian invader — which kidnaps children, beheads prisoners of war, deploys North Korean troops and procures ballistic missiles from Iran — can end it.

A third world war looms, and the sole force holding it back is Ukraine’s unyielding courage — the willingness of Ukraine’s bravest sons and daughters to sacrifice everything for freedom. We can’t ask more of Kyiv, but we can and must demand more from Moscow.

Russia has responded to every diplomatic overture with unceasing violence. If Vladimir Putin wanted peace, why did Moscow unleash a record 267 drones on Ukraine just days after the Trump White House extended an olive branch through talks between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov? This stark display of duplicity and disrespect is a wake-up call that Washington must not ignore.

Moscow could terminate its war in Ukraine today if it chose. Withdrawing forces from the territory of a sovereign state would not weaken Russia or threaten its security. If NATO were truly a threat, Moscow would be reinforcing its defenses along the Finnish border, not betting everything on a craven attempt to recolonize a peaceful neighbor.

America won the Cold War — but, contrary to the Kremlin’s shameless spin, no one lost. In fact, the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear apocalypse, red terror came to an end, and Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Moldovans, Armenians and countless others had their first real chance at freedom.

Putin, a wanted war criminal, refuses to see it, but the collapse of the USSR was not the greatest calamity of the 20th century. It was the downfall of a brutal, extractive empire — and it could have been a historic opportunity for the Russian people. But, alas, after briefly flirting with democracy in the 1990s, the Kremlin swiftly crushed all Russian dreams of freedom.

Now, the predatory state under Putin is working to drag the world back into the darkness of colonial conquest.

The America I know does not stand by as tyrants redraw borders by force — recall the success of Desert Storm, when U.S. leadership earned global respect. The America I know does not betray friends or stab allies in the back, does not kick the victim of a vicious attack in the gut while that victim is fighting for survival, does not negotiate with terrorists. And when we see nations willing to fight and die for freedom, America stands with them.

Transatlantic unity and American leadership should make tyrants and revanchists afraid again. Because if Russia succeeds in unraveling the post-Cold War order, it will not stop with Ukraine. Other authoritarian states — be they in Tehran, Pyongyang or Beijing — are watching. They see that Russia has faced few consequences for launching an unprovoked war, for slaughtering civilians in broad daylight, for violating the long European peace established in 1945. If we fail Ukraine now, we will have opened the door to a world where every nation — ours included — is less safe.

As Reagan put it, “The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas — a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.” The America I know is a generous place that stood on the right side of history more often than not. Our economy is strong — the envy of the world. If our federal budget were a dollar, the support we give to Ukraine would amount to half a penny.

Ukraine didn’t ask to be invaded, and it shouldn’t have to beg for aid. America’s prosperity and security rest on the fragile balance established after the Cold War. If Moscow profits from belligerence, it will unravel the credibility of U.S. deterrence.

Russia’s war is a neo-imperialist campaign that must be stopped. Our tomorrow will be shaped by the choices we make today. This war must end. But not with concessions, another frozen conflict or a victory for the aggressor.

Putin can and will “tear down” this war — if America demands it.

Andrew Chakhoyan is an academic director at the University of Amsterdam. He previously served in the U.S. government at the Millennium Challenge Corporation and studied at Harvard Kennedy School and Donetsk State Tech University.

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