The Challenge to U.S. Leadership on Ukraine Comes From Home
In February 2023, President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv and declared that the U.S. and its allies were determined to win the test of wills with Moscow to defend Ukraine. Biden had taken office pledging to rally the world’s democracies against authoritarian states.
And the journey to the wartime capital was intended to underscore that bedrock policy along with the imperative of preserving Ukraine’s independence in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. “Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided…He thought he could outlast us," said Biden, who donned a striped tie with Ukraine’s blue and yellow colors. “But he’s just been plain wrong." A year later, Moscow’s forces were raising the Russian tricolor over the town of Avdiivka, Ukrainian forces were on their back foot, and worries were proliferating through European capitals that political paralysis in Washington could compel the U.S.
to step back from its leadership role. The American-led effort to support Ukraine against its larger adversary has faced an array of obstacles, including the formidable task of revamping the West’s defense industrial base and Putin’s willingness to accept enormous losses—about 350,000 killed or wounded, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry—in pursuit of his objectives. But the principal challenge has come at home, where additional U.S.
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