Russian invasion of Ukraine/US Aid to Ukraine

1994: “you give your nukes to russia, they’ll promise not to invade you. deal?”

• How Bill Clinton Sealed Ukraine’s Fate (archive)

2005: arms destruction

• When Obama Left Ukraine Defenseless

• Flashback: Senator Obama pushed bill that helped destroy more than 15,000 TONS of ammunition, 400,000 small arms and 1,000 anti-aircraft missiles in Ukraine

• Lugar and Obama Urge Destruction of Conventional Weapons Stockpiles

2014-2017: non-lethal aid

• Ukraine president secures U.S. military aid but not weapons, September 18, 2014

• Poroshenko asks Obama for weapons, obtains blankets, September 19, 2014

• Fact-checking Trump’s claim that Obama gave Ukraine ‘pillows and sheets’ (fact-check: true)

• In a Groundbreaking Deal, Ukraine May Buy US Armor for Its Humvees

• Ukraine to Get More U.S. Aid, but Not Weapons; Obama Refuses to Budge on Lethal Aid Despite Poroshenko’s Passionate Plea in Congress

• “U.S. hands over armored military vehicles to Ukraine”, March 25, 2015 “The U.S. aid for Ukraine’s army will include 30 heavily armored Humvees and 200 other regular Humvees, as well as small drones, radios, counter-mortar radars and other equipment. All of the aid is nonlethal, and the drones are not armed.”

2022-2023

• It’s Costing Peanuts for the US to Defeat Russia

• David Wiley, “Libertarian alternatives to war with Russia”

• Three in four Americans say U.S. should support Ukraine despite Russian threats, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows

• Is the United States Running out of Weapons to Send to Ukraine?

• Ten Myths about US Aid to Ukraine

• Randy Mott, “There is a major misconception the US is providing a big majority of the aid to UKR. This is only true of mil aid & because only the US had unused stores of the necessary eqpt. ”, March 7, 2023 (thread) (pdf)

• US military aid to Ukraine so far: $27.5 billion. This is just 3.2% of our 2023 defense budget. With these weapons, Ukraine is rapidly degrading Russia’s military capacity, which will take many years to restore, if ever.

Objections and counter-arguments

• The US steals over 6 trillion USD annually. You have a very specific objection to a rounding error amount that is being used to stop genocide.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/kremlintarians/comments/zwu6zq/if_you_have_a_problem_that_weapons_sent_to/

• ru:Мне стыдно быть либертарианкой

• Sending Fighter Jets To Ukraine Raises The Specter Of The Cold War “The proposed arms shipments are significantly less provocative than the Soviets killing Americans in North Korea and Vietnam.” [1]

Benefits for the USA

• Timothy Snyder, “I have been hearing the idea from some Republicans that Ukrainian resistance comes at a cost to Americans. Nothing could be more wrong. Ukrainian resistance provides extraordinary security benefits to Americans” (thread) (pdf)

Ideas

• Five Ways to Help Ukraine Win

Opinion polls

• Americans’ Favorable Rating of Russia Sinks to New Low of 9%

Other countries’ aid

Estonia

• The government decided today to send #Estonia’s biggest aid package of heavy weapons so far to #Ukraine. This takes our total military aid to Ukraine over 1% of our GDP.

More

• White House freezes Ukraine military package that includes lethal weapons, June 18, 2021

• How successive U.S. administrations resisted arming Ukraine, March 5, 2022

• Poroshenko welcomes shipment of U.S. Humvees

• Seeks US Weapons at Middle East Arms Expo, February 24, 2014

• “U.S. Humvees Arrive In Ukraine”, March 26, 2015 “Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed the first 10 Humvees provided by the U.S. as part of non-lethal military aid. The vehicles were handed over to units which are fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. It’s expected that a total of 230 Humvees will be delivered within the next 45 days.”

• First U.S. Armored HMMWVs Arrive in Ukraine, Greeted by President Poroshenko, March 25, 2015

• Randy Mott, “A new theme is to force Ukraine to make peace. This is undoubtedly one of the dumbest ideas to emerge from the war. The Gaetz proposal would cut off US aid (now audited)to try to force a peace deal. This thread sets out the reasons why this is nonsense”, February 10, 2023 (thread) (pdf) (Matt Gaetz)

• https://twitter.com/randymot4/status/1609500922413187073

See also

• World War II/US Aid to the Soviet Union