A Russian military assault on Ukraine was supposed to prompt a crippling response from the West. But as Moscow attempts a takeover of Kyiv, calls are growing for President Joe Biden to surge military support to Ukrainian forces.
The United States has shared intelligence publicly in an attempt to pull back any chance of surprise for Russian President Vladimir Putin as he carries out a broad offensive in Ukraine. And though the president has vowed not to send American troops to fight in Ukraine, the White House has prepared a wave of sanctions with U.S. allies and other measures intended to impose steep costs on Moscow.
But as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia would try to “storm” Kyiv on Friday night, Biden faced the question of whether Washington could have done more to equip its leaders before Russian tanks rolled across the border threatening to “decapitate” the government.
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Punishing economic penalties were not enough to deter Putin from carrying out the offensive, while attempts to stop China and Russia from moving closer together had been rebuffed.
“A lot of those attempts have not succeeded,” said Brian Katulis, the vice president for policy at the Middle East Institute, adding that the White House was “reacting to Putin’s plays as opposed to running their own.”
He said the moment in Ukraine “challenges a lot of the things that not only the Biden administration but America has tried to stand for in the world.” Biden’s response so far had shown these limits.
“It has echoes for me of other crises that have been devastating … if we’re only willing to do the bare minimum on economic sanctions and then some diplomacy,” Katulis told the Washinton Examiner, pointing to Syria.
Fears that Kyiv could fall within days have increased pressure on U.S. officials to weigh options to help Ukraine, with some lawmakers urging the president to share crucial intelligence and send more weapons to the country.
“We need to be arming them to the teeth,” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican, told MSNBC on Friday.
The prospect of Ukraine’s takeover by Russia has placed into sharper focus Biden’s pledge to make the case for democratically elected governments, with the president pointing Friday to the unfolding scene to note how “freedom and liberty” were coming under attack.
Katulis said we were now watching in real time a response to Biden’s bet that democracies would win out over autocratic regimes — and questioned the logic of standing by.
“It was just a few months ago that Biden held a Summit for Democracy, but if we can’t help a democracy like Ukraine defend itself, what’s the point of those summits?” he said.
But the White House has detailed little beyond a firm sanctions response, which still spared Russian oil and gas exports from penalties.
Asked about the status of increased U.S. military aid to Ukraine, Biden’s press secretary said the White House was considering “a range of options” to provide additional assistance.
Still, Jen Psaki warned Friday, “Kyiv falling is a real possibility.”
Max Bergmann, a senior fellow at the American Progress and a former State Department official, said there are practical constraints to supporting Ukraine’s military that could limit the type of equipment sent to the country, namely any advanced weaponry or defense that its forces had never used.
“That requires training,” Bergmann said.
More urgently, the former State Department policy planning aide said, there’s a need “to make sure that they don’t run out of bullets.”
Supplies such as ammunition, Javelin missiles, and even water filtration systems may still prove challenging to send into the country, where the security situation has grown dire.
“We can no longer fly C-17s into Kyiv,” Bergmann said, referring to the transport aircraft used to deploy troops and cargo to forward bases.
The capital was under assault Friday night as Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed reports that a major power plant had been destroyed amid a Russian bombing campaign.
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Speaking to House lawmakers Thursday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the administration was looking for ways to send supplies to the country but that the Russian presence made this more difficult, Axios reported.
Austin said officials were also weighing options to train Ukrainian forces remotely if the government loses control of the country to Russia.
