Ukrainian President Asks for Military Aid at U.S. Congress

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In The Media

Ukrainian President Asks for Military Aid at U.S. Congress

What the Ukrainians really want from the West right now is lethal military assistance and they are just not going to get it.

By Andrew S. Weiss

Published on Sep 18, 2014

Source: KCRW’s To The Point

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told a rare joint session of Congress today that the future of NATO and peace in Europe depends on U.S. help for Ukrainian soldiers responding to Russia aggression. Speaking on KCRW, Carnegie’s Andrew S. Weiss analyzed Poroshenko’s visit to Washington in light of the tenuous ceasefire brokered on September 12 in Minsk, the simultaneous ratification of the European Association Agreement on September 16, and the recent proposals to grant “special status” to certain regions in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Weiss argued that despite all appearances, the United States and Ukraine are not on the same page with regard to resolving the conflict. While Ukraine seeks lethal aid like anti-tank weapons, the West understands that “no amount of U.S. military assistance in this kind of military environment is going to fix the strategic imbalance between Ukraine and Russia.”

He explained that in light of the growing instability in the Middle East, bolstering Ukraine is important, but not crucial to the Obama administration. According to Weiss, conflict resolution on this scale requires heavy international involvement, but what the West is doing in Ukraine looks more like “trying to fix a problem on the cheap.”

This interview was originally broadcast by KCRW.

About the Author

Andrew S. Weiss

James Family Chair, Vice President for Studies

Andrew S. Weiss is the James Family Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees research on Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. His graphic novel biography of Vladimir Putin, Accidental Czar: the Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin, was published by First Second/Macmillan in 2022.

Recent Work

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Security Foreign Policy North America United States Russia Eastern Europe Ukraine

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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