Mitch McConnell

While Ukraine is making very slow progress in retaking its territory from the invaders, background reports suggest that Russia’s losses of personnel and equipment may not be sustainable for much longer.

With Russians’ declining support for the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s personnel recruitment has become more intense and more international. This creates training and communication problems that should make Putin’s invasion harder to sustain.

Western weapons losses are substantial and will require replacement, with additional buildup if we wish to deter aggression on two fronts. The attrition of Russia’s weapons appears to be much worse. While Russia’s industrial base is under Putin’s control, Western sanctions limit Russia’s ability to produce the most advanced weapons and counter Ukraine’s NATO-supplied equipment.

There have been fearsome human losses on both sides. If the West is united and patient, Ukraine appears likely to push Russia back to its own borders sometime in the next two years. In turn, Ukrainians can teach U.S. forces a whole lot about prevailing on a modern battlefield without massive air superiority.

But the West’s unity and patience cannot be taken for granted.

Europe appears as united about defending Ukraine as it is about anything. Having studied the events of 1939, European governments generally know the stakes involved in this invasion. Bullying and aggression almost always continue until someone stops them. Pro-Russian sentiment, never strong, appears to have substantially weakened in most of Europe.

In the era of “do my own research” on social media, Russia’s massive and anonymous social media presence has influenced some Americans to support Russian positions and oppose what I believe to be in our country’s best interest.

I have many differences with Sen. Mitch McConnell, but I agree with him about Ukraine: 

“Since Putin’s escalation in Ukraine, President Biden has not been as decisive as many of us would have preferred. But this is no excuse for Congress to compound his administration’s failures with failures of our own.”

On Sept. 7, 2023, McConnell explained that most Ukraine aid money is spent at U.S. production facilities, helping to modernize U.S. weapons systems. He continued: “Our support to Ukraine is grinding down one of America’s biggest strategic adversaries, and showing the other one the strength of our resolve, and it’s providing Western forces from NATO to Taiwan with valuable operational lessons to apply to their own defense.

“The value of that to American interests can hardly be measured simply in dollars or jobs. The critics of this investment cannot ignore its returns. American industry and workers are stronger for it. Our war fighters are stronger for it. And our nation is stronger for it.” (www.c-span.org/video/?530288-2/sen-republican-leader-mitch-mcconnell-ukraine)

DAVE CUNDIFF

Ilwaco