Security Assistance to Ukraine is Important to U.S. National Security Interests
The United States has an interest in providing security assistance to Ukraine to support the country in its longstanding battle against Russian aggression and to shore it up as an independent and democratic country that can deter Kremlin influence in both Ukraine and other European countries. In early 2014, in what became known as the Revolution of Dignity, Ukrainian citizens demanded democratic reforms and an end to corruption, thereby forcing the ouster of pro-Kremlin Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine’s president. Shortly thereafter, Russian military forces and their proxies began an incursion into Ukraine that led to Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine, as well as the ongoing, Russian-led armed conflict in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Approximately 13,000 people have been killed as a result of the conflict and over 1.4 million people have been displaced.278
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, noted that “militants in eastern Ukraine report directly to the Russian military, which arms them, trains them, leads them, and fights alongside them.”279 Similarly, then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis, during a visit to Ukraine in 2017, chided Russia, stating that “despite Russia’s denials, we know they are seeking to redraw international borders by force, undermining the sovereign and free nations of Europe.”280
In response to Russia’s aggression, the international community imposed financial and visa sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, and committed to providing billions of dollars in economic, humanitarian, and security assistance to Ukraine to continue to support its sovereignty and democratic development.
The European Union is the single largest contributor of total foreign assistance to Ukraine, having provided €15 billion in grants and loans since 2014.281 In addition to economic and humanitarian assistance, the United States has contributed a substantial amount of security assistance, mostly lethal and non-lethal military equipment and training, to Ukraine. In fact, the United States is the largest contributor of security assistance to Ukraine. Since 2014, the United States has delivered approximately $1.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.282
Multiple witnesses—including Ambassador William Taylor, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper—testified that this security assistance to Ukraine is vital to the national security of the United States and Europe.283 As Ambassador Taylor noted:
- [R]adar and weapons and sniper rifles, communication, that saves lives. It makes the Ukrainians more effective. It might even shorten the war. That’s what our hope is, to show that the Ukrainians can defend themselves and the Russians, in the end, will say “Okay, we’re going to stop.”284
State Department Special Advisor for Ukraine, Catherine Croft, further emphasized that Ukrainians currently “face casualties nearly every day in defense of their own territory against Russian aggression.”285 Ambassador Taylor testified that American aid is a concrete demonstration of the United States’ “commitment to resist aggression and defend freedom.”286
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