Pass the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 (S.2828)
Any solution to the current crisis in Ukraine, which is to a large extent a military problem, must contain an element of direct lethal military aid.
The Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014, sponsored by Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on September 16th of 2014, is one of the most important bills to be introduced this year. Recognizing that, as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during his speech to Congress in September, "one cannot win a war with blankets," he penned S.2828, which grants the President authority "to provide defense articles, defense services, and training to the Government of Ukraine for the purpose of countering offensive weapons and reestablishing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." In its current form, the bill allows for $350 million to be appropriated in FY2015 for this purpose. It is imperative that the government of the United States immediately provides the relevant lethal aid necessary to allow the Ukrainian army to regain control over Donetsk and Luhansk. It is both our moral duty and in our national interest to substantially aid Ukraine, which has struggled so hard for the principles we claim to safeguard, against Russian aggression.
The purpose of the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States, the European Union, and Japan was not to simply damage the Russian economy, which they have done, but to convince the Russian government to stop overtly violating Ukraine's territorial integrity and to stop them from supporting militias in Eastern Ukraine. In this regard, sanctions have hitherto been completely ineffective.
Regarding economic aid to Ukraine, the IMF warns that an additional $19 billion will be needed if the conflict in the East cannot be resolved by 2015. Costs will continue to rise for Ukraine far more quickly than Western countries can provide palliative aid. Restructuring costs increase exponentially with each hour of fighting, and the conduct of the current military operations in Eastern Ukraine have strained a country already far too deep in debt to both enemies and allies alike. Capital flight will continue to increase, as nobody wants to invest in ruins. The Hryvnia, Ukraine's currency, continues to plummet, now trading at its lowest value ever relative to the dollar. There is no good news on the economic front.
All diplomatic approaches have also utterly failed. The Minsk accords, signed on September 5th in Belarus by representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian governments as well as the OSCE, were never fully implemented, and the ceasefire never came into effect. The Russians cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith, this being the third agreement specifically or generally concerning Ukraine that they've ignored, along with the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and the Helsinki Final Act of 1975.
Honorable representatives of the Congress of the United States, I urge you to review and pass the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 with all possible haste. With recent reports of tank, troop, and artillery movement throughout the separatist-controlled East and the increasing intensity of shelling around Donetsk, especially near the government-controlled airport, there is very little time remaining. If Russia and their militias in the East fully renew the offensive, Ukraine will be lost to us forever. The United States must provide the Ukrainian army with the lethal military assistance and training necessary to not only repel such an attack, but to regain control of their country and finally enact the political and economic reforms that Ukrainians sought at Maidan.
The purpose of the sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States, the European Union, and Japan was not to simply damage the Russian economy, which they have done, but to convince the Russian government to stop overtly violating Ukraine's territorial integrity and to stop them from supporting militias in Eastern Ukraine. In this regard, sanctions have hitherto been completely ineffective.
Regarding economic aid to Ukraine, the IMF warns that an additional $19 billion will be needed if the conflict in the East cannot be resolved by 2015. Costs will continue to rise for Ukraine far more quickly than Western countries can provide palliative aid. Restructuring costs increase exponentially with each hour of fighting, and the conduct of the current military operations in Eastern Ukraine have strained a country already far too deep in debt to both enemies and allies alike. Capital flight will continue to increase, as nobody wants to invest in ruins. The Hryvnia, Ukraine's currency, continues to plummet, now trading at its lowest value ever relative to the dollar. There is no good news on the economic front.
All diplomatic approaches have also utterly failed. The Minsk accords, signed on September 5th in Belarus by representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian governments as well as the OSCE, were never fully implemented, and the ceasefire never came into effect. The Russians cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith, this being the third agreement specifically or generally concerning Ukraine that they've ignored, along with the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and the Helsinki Final Act of 1975.
Honorable representatives of the Congress of the United States, I urge you to review and pass the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 with all possible haste. With recent reports of tank, troop, and artillery movement throughout the separatist-controlled East and the increasing intensity of shelling around Donetsk, especially near the government-controlled airport, there is very little time remaining. If Russia and their militias in the East fully renew the offensive, Ukraine will be lost to us forever. The United States must provide the Ukrainian army with the lethal military assistance and training necessary to not only repel such an attack, but to regain control of their country and finally enact the political and economic reforms that Ukrainians sought at Maidan.
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