Three years on, the war for Ukraine continues to burn, consuming lives and the wealth of nations. The diplomatic rupture last month in the Oval Office beamed live around the world ignited a fierce debate about America’s allies, enemies and interests in the 21st century. Now, Vladimir Putin is dragging his feet on a full cease-fire deal, hoping the United States will cave to his demands for a complete end to military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine.
I welcome President Trump’s efforts to fulfill his promise to end this war. However, the United States must also firmly oppose any approach that rewards Mr. Putin for his ruthless aggression. In recent weeks, too many of my fellow Republicans — including Mr. Trump — have treated Russia with velvet gloves, shying away from calling out Mr. Putin’s flatly illegal war and even blaming Ukraine for starting it. As the White House works to end the fighting and forge a just and durable peace, my party must reaffirm our commitment to opposing Mr. Putin’s expansionism and to supporting Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty.
That starts with honestly acknowledging the origins of the present conflict. Moscow’s aggression toward Ukraine goes back more than a century, when the Soviet Union crushed the Ukrainian independence movement. Under Joseph Stalin’s repressive rule, an estimated three million to five million Ukrainians died during the infamous Holodomor “death famine” of the 1930s. Until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, life in Soviet-controlled Ukraine was blighted by collectivization, disappearances, executions and gulags.
In 1994, after the Soviet Union’s dissolution, the leaders of the newly independent Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States convened in Hungary to sign the Budapest Memorandum. This agreement extended explicit security guarantees for Ukraine — including a commitment by Russia to respect its borders — in return for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons. Turns out, it was another “peace in our time” moment.
Twenty years later, in 2014 — long after Ukraine had surrendered its nukes — the United States and the rest of Europe shamelessly abandoned these security commitments when Mr. Putin ordered the Russian military to annex and occupy the Crimean Peninsula. Speeches were made and a few sanctions imposed, but the West permitted Mr. Putin’s naked aggression to stand, paving the way for his full-scale invasion in February 2022.
This history makes clear that America has a moral obligation to continue providing aid to Ukraine until Russia commits to fair and just peace negotiations. That means including Ukraine in the conversation.
And if Ukraine is asked to cede territory to Russia, the United States needs to be ready to provide enhanced security assistance and to support a European-led military presence in Ukraine. Otherwise, we cannot trust that Mr. Putin will keep his word.
As the war enters its fourth year, Americans understandably question why the United States should continue supporting Kyiv. They ask whether we can afford it, whether it’s our fight or whether Ukraine’s fate truly matters to them.
To me, the answer is simple: Supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Russian aggression is not only morally right. It is also in our national interest, because the future cost of abandoning Ukraine would vastly outweigh the investment we have made in rejecting Russia’s aggression.
A Russian victory in this war would quickly and predictably extend far beyond Ukraine’s borders. Mr. Putin’s statements and actions make it abundantly clear that he seeks to restore the old Soviet borders and regain the former glory of Imperial Russia. Fancying himself a modern-day Peter the Great, he views Georgia, Moldova and the Baltic republics as “renegade states” and the rightful property of Russia.
Failing to stand up to bullies only leads to larger and costlier conflicts. If Mr. Putin succeeds, it will embolden other authoritarian regimes — such as China, Iran and North Korea — to take similar aggressive actions against their neighbors. This could trigger a series of conflicts that threaten American interests and global stability.
We have watched this play out before. After World War I, America believed Europe’s problems were not our own, a mind-set that helped lead to World War II, resulting in millions of lost lives and immense economic devastation.
In 1984, President Reagan warned that “history teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.” To “keep the peace,” he added, “we and our allies must be strong enough to convince any potential aggressor that war could bring no benefit, only disaster.”
While polls show that a majority of Americans support Ukraine, it has become increasingly difficult to get Republican support in Congress for more aid. The isolationist wing of the party is loud. Some who oppose continued support for Ukraine cite valid concerns about fiscal responsibility and the growing burden of the national debt on American taxpayers. I understand and share these concerns.
But I also encourage my colleagues to take a broader view of the costs of our foreign policy decisions. When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the shock waves were felt around the world: Fuel prices surged, grocery bills increased and global supply chains — already strained by the pandemic — faced further disruptions. Ukraine is an agricultural powerhouse, exporting wheat, corn and sunflower oil to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Should Russia gain control of Ukraine’s coast and Black Sea shipping lanes to block these exports, food prices will rise across the world, including in the United States. If Ukraine loses, the resulting refugee flows and instability will disrupt trade, increase energy prices, force American consumers to spend more and constrain U.S. economic growth.
Supporting Ukraine is also about sending a clear message to authoritarian leaders worldwide that America will not appease or condone the violent conquest of the weak by the strong. The administration must be crystal clear that we are aligned with democracy, free markets and the rule of law. If we stray from these values, we risk losing what makes America a great nation.
Peace won’t be easy, but we must reject the trap of making a false choice. It is possible to end the war for Ukraine, preserve our moral clarity by holding Russia accountable and advance America’s long-term national interests in the process. This is a Ronald Reagan moment, and the stakes for all of us are too high to waver in our resolve.
Don Bacon serves on the House Armed Services Committee and retired as a Brigadier General after nearly 30 years of service in the Air Force.
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