Ruddy: Congress Must Help Ukraine to Stop Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to Washington this week, seeking more aid for his embattled country in its war against Russia.

But he’s actually seeking critically needed military aid to help the United States.

You see, since the war began in February of 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a constant refrain.

This war – or “special military operation” as he calls it – is really about defeating the West and the U.S.

Our societies, Putin has argued, are so sick “they should not even exist.”

One of Russia’s top military commanders recently appeared on Putin’s favorite TV news show saying this war is just the “starting point” in the war against “Satanism.”

On any number of occasions, Putin himself has called the West “Satan.”

He believes Russia has a messianic mission to destroy Satan. [The Russian Orthodox Church has even named Putin the nation’s “chief exorcist.”]

Facing an enemy having a truly bizarre world view, Zelenskyy finds himself seeking urgent military assistance as Russia advances in the eastern part of his country and tough winter months approaching.

Right now U.S. lawmakers have been debating a supplemental spending package that would include $61.4 billion for Ukraine.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and many Senate Republicans want to give Ukraine aid, but they also are demanding Democrats agree to strict new border-security measures in return.

It’s a fair deal.

Fully understanding the growing discontent with funding Ukraine, Democrats should move quickly to accept this bargain with House leaders.

By delaying, the threat to the West is clear to anyone with eyes.

Further advancement by Putin’s forces would embolden the leader and perhaps motivate him to move against other countries.

Putin’s acolytes in Moscow have openly talked about taking over Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Romania – not to mention “re-claiming” Alaska, dropping nuclear weapons on European states and incinerating cities like London.

Sweden and Finland have long cherished their role as neutrals, even during the most tense years of the Cold War.

But both countries understood this time is different. Putin is more dangerous than the old Soviet leaders.

This is why both nations anxiously applied for NATO membership after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

When I met Zelenskyy in Kyiv in 2022, I told him his people were fighting and dying for us.

They have been.

So far more than 200,000 of their soldiers have been killed or wounded, according to U.S. estimates. This does not include the horrific toll Ukrainians have suffered at the hands of savage Russian invaders.

As if Putin’s actions weren’t worrisome enough, he has spent time during the past two years building an anti-American axis of powers to challenges us globally.

China and Iran are working closely with Moscow to support their goal of ending America’s “unipolar” dominance.

Just last week the Russian president visited the Middle East and met with leaders from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia – two of the richest and most economically influential Arab countries.

Clearly, Putin is not an isolationist.

Congress already has allocated $111 billion to assist Ukraine, much of it for military weapons, and most of this money has been spent on U.S. contractors.

The money is not going to mansions owned by Ukrainian oligarchs living in the South of France, as Russian-backed social media posts falsely claim.

Obviously, Congress must end the invasion at our southern border, and we need to assist Israel as it fights Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

I have publicly praised President Biden for his early support of Ukraine, which was quite strong compared to President Obama’s 2014 weak response to Putin’s invasion of Crimea.

But then Biden hurt his own efforts to save Ukraine by slow-walking military aid.

This not only undermined Kyiv’s ability to quickly repel Russian troops, but gave Putin time to re-organize his defenses.

Once again, Ukraine finds itself in a most precarious situation.

Despite Biden’s mistakes, we cannot allow Putin to win in Ukraine.

Such a thing would send a devastating signal to our allies in the Mid-East, including Israel, as well in Asia with Taiwan and South Korea.

Congress should and must act to give Zelenskyy what he needs. Time is of the essence. It really is.