Why it’s important to continue our support for Ukraine

No one knows when and how the war in Ukraine will end. But any outcome that constitutes a victory for Russia would be catastrophic for American security.

Mike Pompeo, a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute, served as the 70th U.S. secretary of State (2018-21) and director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2017-18).

In the year that transpired between Biden’s inauguration and Putin’s invasion, this administration appeased Russia on energy policy, arms control policy, and on Ukraine. Its withdrawal from Afghanistan telegraphed profound weakness and unseriousness. The president even suggested he could tolerate a "minor incursion" by Russia in Ukraine. 

A major invasion is what he in effect greenlit. As it began, the same intelligence agencies that failed to predict the speed of the Taliban victory in Afghanistan confidently asserted that Putin would take Kyiv in a matter of days, and so this administration withdrew our diplomats and prepared to accept another defeat.