Continued support for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion is vital to the national security of America. As a non-partisan organization composed of approximately 100 retired generals, admirals, ambassadors, and senior government executives, the American College of National Security Leaders is dedicated to promoting policies and measures to ensure the security of the United States, democratic principles, and international peace and prosperity. In this vein, in advance of this becoming an issue of debate, we express our support for U.S. policies to ensure continued Ukraine sovereignty.
Russia’s unprovoked invasion a year ago underlines an international challenge which must be resolved, for this last year of innocent civilian bloodshed is only a continuation of a decade of Russian disregard for the rules-based international order that our greatest generation fought so hard to establish after the Second World War.
Russia must not benefit from such disregard of international law and human life. President Putin must not be permitted to successfully threaten Russia’s neighbors, simultaneously unraveling the uneven but peaceful global order of the last 75 years.
The United States should have an unclouded vision of what is happening in Ukraine through the lens of a bloody history of dealing with dictators. Americans should remember well the prohibitive cost and counter-productive results of isolationism.
As Americans, we mark the anniversary of the brutal invasion of Ukraine, but Ukrainians know that the invasion by Russian started with Crimea in 2014. Europe looks back on the Russian invasion of Georgia and annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008 as part of Putin’s military expansionism. There is a way to stop it.
NATO and partner nations recognize the larger threat to Europe and to global peace and prosperity by a Russia unbound by international law, ethical process, or even basic humanity. NATO’s response has been to contribute, significantly, to the defense of Ukraine, not just as a first line of defense for themselves, but as an avoidable imperative in preventing wider war and preserving global prosperity.
The United States, too, must recognize the reality of what Putin is doing and the inescapable conclusion that Ukraine will not be enough, will not be the end. The economic convulsions throughout the world last year are a strong indicator that the United States cannot ignore Putin’s expansionism and Russian atrocities.
Putin believes that America’s will and stamina are inferior to his own. He is willing to kill thousands of Ukrainians and sacrifice thousands of his own troops to wait us out. If he succeeds, he may have all of Ukraine, completely changing the strategic map of Europe and vastly heightening the tension with the West.
If Russia’s actions are not met with firm, unified and resolute action by freedom-loving nations in accordance with the United Nations charter, history records that aggressors will be emboldened to use military power to impose their will.
Continuing the United States’ support of Ukraine is, therefore, in the vital interests of the United States. Given the resources that our nation annually devotes to national defense for readiness to accomplish the very issues at stake in Ukraine, additional funding is inconsequential when compared to the goal of U.S national security.
The American College of National Security Leaders thus advocates that the United States remain resolute in our support of Ukraine, while continuing to seek and encourage the support of our allies and partners in this effort to ensure that Ukraine has the appropriate resources to counter the Russian aggression.
The United States must not force Ukraine’s brave government into a negotiation that does not resolve the basic issues of Russia’s brutal and unlawful invasion of a sovereign nation.
David Oliver and Jamie Barnett are both retired rear admirals in the U.S. Navy and officers in the American College of National Security Leaders, a non-partisan group of retired generals, admirals, ambassadors and senior government executives who seeks to inform the debate on national security challenges.