The world was outraged as Vladimir Putin announced his intention of invading the neighboring country of Ukraine, on the eve of February 24, 2022, with missiles striking numerous airports, pieces of infrastructure, and the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. 

The United States along with its NATO allies have quickly moved to funnel even more military equipment into the country, with the hope of driving Russia out of Ukrainian territory as soon as possible. However, this move may be a rash decision on behalf of NATO leaders.

“As a Russian person, I think the US should be less involved than they already are, because yes, we do need to help Ukraine, but I think this is a matter of those two countries,” says Anita Ratna Gautum (‘24).

As Ukraine is not formally a member state of NATO, the United States and its allies are not able to directly send boots on the ground. In doing so, it may trigger retaliation from the Russian military, which holds an arsenal of deadly nuclear weapons. 

As a result, NATO leaders can only send monetary aid, heavy equipment, and armored vehicles as well as conventional arms in an attempt to fend off the invading Russian forces. 

According to the Biden White House, an additional 800 billion dollars was sent to Ukraine on March 16 in the form of conventional arms as well as anti-tank Stinger and Javelin missiles.   

“I don’t think we should negotiate with Russia. They are a hardened enemy of ours, and I would not trust them one bit. I think that we should support Ukraine in defeating them because even if you come to an agreement, you cannot trust Putin”, says AV Criminal Justice teacher Cliff Calderan, a former marine.

Criticism has been targeted towards the White House as a result of these actions. President Biden’s continuous military aid packages to Ukraine have turned the Ukrainian military and civilians into “cannon fodder” and targets for the Russian armed forces.

Instead of attempting to negotiate for peace or a resolution, Western leaders seem defiant in their stance to “fight until the last Ukrainian” as a way to deter Putin’s eventual goal of Russia influencing Ukraine as opposed to Ukraine being Western-backed. 

“If we look at the statistics, this situation might quickly escalate to a nuclear war. It’s known to everybody that there are no winners. No one is going to win, and no one is going to survive, and no one is going to be standing with their flag on someone’s territory,” says Gautum.

In a time when the United States is facing an onslaught of its own problems, including the rising cost of gasoline and food, supply chain issues, inflation rates as well as a public health crisis, Americans worry more about their own quality of life over foreign conflicts. 

According to an article from “The Grayzone”, US officials are attempting to rally public support behind Ukraine in an effort to justify continuously sending billions of taxpayer dollars to the country, even while our own country has its own problems.   

“If we give them the weapons that they need, which we should have done a long time ago, we need to then go to them and say look, you are going to have to repay us in some way, somehow. Whether it is in oil, money, or whatever it may be, they are going to have to pay us back for those weapons. We can’t keep throwing money at them, because we’re hitting hyperinflation pretty soon, and everybody here is struggling,” noted Calderan.