Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 19, 2023. © Mike Segar, Reuters
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky was in the United States for the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York this September. This was the first time that president Volodymyr Zelensky made A speech at the United Nations after Moscow launched its costly military invasion of Ukraine on February 24th of 2022.
On this same trip, Zelensky went to the capital of Washington DC to discuss the military support to Ukraine. The Biden administration has been A huge supporter of Ukraine's fight against the Putin regime and its invaders, and has contributed to Ukraine's military capability on the battlefield. However, some within the government including within a small pocket of the Republican party has been skeptical of supporting its ally in the war.
Though the majority of the Republican Party are for the military support the United States can provide, some within the party are growing more wary of the spending. Their Reasoning is that their is no oversight where the money will go and if it is really being used for military purposes. Just recently A letter was sent to the White House Budget Director Shalanda Young by some republicans concerned of clarification of where the money is going.
“The vast Majority of Congress remains unaware of how much the United States has spent to date in total on this conflict, information which is necessary for Congress to prudently exercise its appropriation power. It is difficult to envision a benign explanation for this lack of Clarity" from the written letter to White House Budget Director Shalanda Young. Even some who are running for the Republican ticket for president have been vocal to not send military aid to Ukraine.
For instance, Entrepeneur and businessperson Vivek Ramaswamy said during the first Republican primary that “This is disastrous...We are protecting an invasion across somebody else’s border when we should use those same military resources to prevent ... the invasion of our own southern border here in the United States of America.” said Ramaswamy. Former president Donald Trump (even though not debating in the first primary) also opposes military aid for Ukraine.
So, the question remains, should we continue military aid to Ukraine? I asked some students of what they think of military support to Ukraine. I asked them simple questions such as what they thought about military aid to Ukraine and weather they thought the war was becoming A lost cause.
I talked to one student named Nadaly and when I asked her what she thought of military aid, she said “I haven't really kept up with the news lately, but I think... I do not know how involved we should get but I think the funding is good for Ukraine because their allies... I think the funding good.” I also asked her if the war was becoming a stalemate which in response “I mean like I said I haven't kept up with it lately, but I think the fact that I haven't heard a lot about it said that a lot of big stuff hasn’t happened.” My final question to her was if the government was handling the situation correctly of not which in response “I think that’s better because with like with Vietnam when we got involved it did not end very well.”
I also asked another student named Mike and he stated for my first question which he said “yes” which led to my second response to him if he thought the war, was a stalemate. “I mean I haven't really liked heard much about it anymore...and I also haven't really been keeping track but recently so I would say that it’s a Stalemate.” my final question to him was if the United handling of the situation was correct or not which his response was “I say that its Good that were helping but we got to make sure we keep track of ourselves.”
For me I have strong views on this issue, and I am a supporter myself of sending aid to Ukraine. We must think about why we are giving them aid and the importance of this issue. This is a war of independence of Ukraine, whether a democratic nation stands or falls against imperialism. There should be a peace agreement between both sides to end this bloodshed but Ukraine must regain its territorial borders established in 1991.
I do however believe in peace, realistically peace talks would occur if the war drags on, however, I believe we should continue our aid if we are in talks between both sides and the United States and its allies must make it clear that Ukraine must have its territory that was established in 1991 and must be admitted to NATO, if what some politicians claim that stopping aid to Ukraine and leaving the frontlines as new border boundary while also not admitting to NATO then it will cause much more bloodshed in the future, Russia would invade again, into Ukraine maybe possibly taking advantage of the current cease fire if that were to happened, even possibly consider declaring war on Ukraine.
The only way to end the war is through supporting Ukraine while also communicating with Ukraine and Russia that Ukraine borders must be respected by the 1991 border boundaries. The US with the help of its allies must continue its support to Ukraine to deplete the Russian military capabilities to re invade Ukraine, furthermore if there was a peace agreement that allowed peace in Ukraine and its borders especially Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea then Ukraine must be integrated into NATO.