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.”