Some commentators have been saying that the Ukrainians are “fighting for us” – for NATO, the West, even the US. President Zelenskyy has pretty much said as much, a number of times.
The reality is, the Ukrainians are fighting for the Ukrainians. For their homeland; for their families; for their freedom; for their very survival.
Now even though they’re fighting for themselves, their success is also our success. We have a common foe – naked aggression. Authoritarianism. Barbarism. Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine’s victory over Russia really does benefit us – in so many ways. And because of Ukrainian heroism, that victory, which seemed all but impossible against the massive Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border only a few months back, is not only now possible, but a likely outcome. But only if we and our NATO allies provide President Zelenskyy with most, if not all, of the weaponry he’s been desperately pleading for, for months now.
Yes, we’ve been supplying Ukraine with a lot of stuff, but they need a lot more. Our stingers and javelins were effective in picking off Russian tanks on the attack and in the open, but because of Russia’s failures, they’re repositioning their forces from, for example, attacking Kyiv, to holding onto Ukrainian areas in the east and south that they’ve recently bulldozed into submission, or areas like Crimea and the Donbas that they illegally grabbed back in 2014 (when the world was asleep, or just didn’t give a damn – a few sanctions here and there, then yawn, back to normal.)
US Patriot Missile
What the Ukrainians need now to win, and push the Russians completely out of Ukraine (which should be the definition of winning), is heavier and more lethal weaponry, such as more mainline battle tanks, multi-launch rocket systems, armored troop carriers, and yes, PLANES. Our on again off again pathetic effort to get them the warplanes they’ve been begging for, would be comical, if the deadly consequences to Ukrainian civilians weren’t so self-evident.
We need to get all these things, and more, to the Ukrainian freedom fighters as quickly as possible. And if we do, not only will Putin be truly stymied for the first time in a long time, but a truly valiant nation will be able to remain free.
And that’s in NATO’s interest, and our interest, and yes, in freedom’s interest.
