Abandoning Ukraine when they need it most

Columnists

 

Russian invasion  

 

The US is abandoning Ukraine when it needs the help the most  

 

Wolfgang Hansson  

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

 

Published 17.50  

 

 

The war in Ukraine continues in full force after two years. Photo: Niclas Hammarström  

 

ATLANTA, USA. Think how much a year can mean.  

 

This time last year, the US sent a barrage of advanced weapons to Ukraine and President Zelensky was treated like a Hollywood star in Washington DC.  

 

Today, the US has abandoned Ukraine on important points.  

 

While Avdijivka falls, Congress takes a vacation instead of deciding on more military support.  

 

Europe has invested a lot of money in helping Ukraine. But there is no doubt that the United States is Ukraine's most important ally. Only the United States has advanced weapons in large quantities that they can spare. No one else has the same military muscle.  

 

Therefore, it is alarming to say the least for Ukraine that US politicians are using the war in Ukraine as a pawn in a domestic political game.  

 

While scores of Ukrainian soldiers are dying at the frontlines trying to hold back the increasingly intense Russian attacks, many Republican politicians in the United States are sitting and twiddling their thumbs.  

 

They thought they worked so hard that they deserved two weeks off instead of deciding on a large aid package that would provide 600 billion kroner in military support to Ukraine. 

 

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to introduce the proposal before the House of Representatives. A bill that has already been defeated in the Senate by an unusually large margin where 22 Republican senators voted in favor.  

 

President Joe Biden is furious. 

 

- The Republicans ignore the threat from Russia, they ignore NATO, he thunders. It is shocking to see how they are ignoring America's duties. I've been around for a while but never experienced anything like this.  

 

Speaker Mike Johnson. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP  .

The reason Speaker Johnson is refusing to allow a vote on the aid package is that it contains no money to stop the massive illegal immigration along America's southern border. 

 

But the reason no such funds are included in the package is that Republicans voted against them. Because Donald Trump told them to. He wants to keep the border issue as a weapon against Biden in the election campaign.  

 

The fact that the town of Avdijivka fell into Russian hands a few days ago and the assassination of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has increased the pressure on Republicans to act. 

 

Ukraine has a major shortage of artillery ammunition. When the Russians fire 5 or 10 shells, Ukraine can only respond with one. The lack of ammunition was an important reason for the fall of Avdijivka. The fact that the shortfall exists is partly due to the fact that for months the US Congress refused to make a decision on more military support.  

 

The Republicans are simply acting as Putin's best friends despite the fact that President Biden, the Democrats and even many Republicans in the Senate want to give more support to Ukraine.  

 

When Zelenskyi visited the United States for the first time after the war, he received a hero's welcome and addressed Congress to standing ovations from both sides. At the end of last year, there was neither speech nor applause.  

 

Speaker Johnson is being held hostage by a small group of far-right Trump-loyal Republicans in the House of Representatives. If he lets the support go through, they have threatened to remove him as speaker just as they did last year with Kevin McCarthy.  

 

It may also be that the Republicans, by dragging out the process, want to force Europe's major countries such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain to take on a greater part of the costs of Ukraine's warfare. Which is completely in line with ex-President Trump's view that many of Europe's countries rely far too much on the US paying for the defense of Europe.  

 

Perhaps it is also in that light that Sweden's decision on a record military aid package to Ukraine of just over seven billion kroner should be seen. The government would like to lead by example.  

 

If you look at how different countries contribute to Ukraine in relation to their GDP, the Baltic states end up at the top and the USA but also Sweden quite far down the list.   

 

Det finns en trötthet på kriget bland många amerikaner, särskilt republikaner, som inte vill se sina skattepengar gå till ett krig långt bort som de inte riktigt begriper.

 

Many observers here in the United States assume that the Congress will eventually give more support to Ukraine, but in today's situation nothing is a given.  

 

There is war weariness among many Americans, especially Republicans, who do not want to see their tax dollars go to a war far away that they do not really understand.  

 

But even among Democrats, support is falling. A hairdresser I spoke to in Atlanta thought that you could certainly support Ukraine, but that there must also be money to support the poor at home.  

 

A contributing cause of Ukraine fatigue is lack of success. 

 

The over-optimism that existed a year ago that Ukraine would be able to take back all the territories occupied by the Russians since 2014, including Crimea, has been replaced by an exaggerated pessimism where many now believe that a Russian military victory is at hand.  

 

This despite the fact that the war in the last year, despite intense fighting, has resulted in almost completely unchanged front lines.  

 

Many Americans want to see success for Ukraine if they are to continue providing support. But as long as Ukraine does not receive more support, it will be difficult to throw the Russians out of occupied territory. A kind of catch 22.

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