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Invited essay
By Lloyd J. Austin III and Antony J. Blinken
Mr. Austin is the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Blinken is the Secretary of State.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shocked the world with his full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago. He planned to overthrow Ukraine’s democratically elected government, install a Kremlin puppet regime, and denounce the West as weak, divided, and diminished.
After more than 1,000 days of Mr. Putin’s reckless war of choice, he has failed to achieve a single one of his strategic goals. Russia’s power and influence are greatly diminished; it couldn’t even prop up a valued client like the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Meanwhile, Ukraine stands strong and defiant as a free and sovereign democracy, with an economy rooted in the West.
All this is a testament to the resilience of Ukraine’s troops and the strength of Ukraine’s people. It is also the product of steadfast American leadership, which has rallied allies and partners worldwide to help Ukraine survive the Kremlin’s imperial onslaught. The United States should build on this historic success, not squander it.
Putin thought the world would stand by when he sent his troops across the border into Ukraine. I was wrong. The United States has mobilized some 50 countries around the world to help Ukraine protect itself and defend the basic principle that borders cannot be redrawn by force. One of us, Secretary Austin, convened the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a global coalition that coordinated the military for Ukraine, 25 times. Its members have committed $126 billion in direct security assistance to Ukraine, almost a portion of which comes from non-U. S. members.
As a percentage of G.D.P., more than a dozen contact group members now provide more security assistance to Ukraine than the United States does. And these investments in Ukraine are delivering returns here at home, boosting our defense industrial base and creating good jobs. Mr. Putin’s aggression even spurred the very outcome he had sought to prevent: NATO is now bigger, stronger and more united than ever.
As a result, Ukraine has resisted the world’s second-largest army, despite Putin’s reckless escalations and irresponsible nuclear saber-rattling. Ukraine fought brilliantly even as China, the world’s second-largest economy, subsidized Putin; while Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, has armed it with missiles and drones; and North Korea, the world’s most infamous nuclear-armed rebel state, provided it with ammunition and some 10,000 troops.
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