US legislators reject 'proxy war' in Ukraine, ‘unrestrained’ aid to Kiev

A coalition of 19 Republican lawmakers in the US Senate and House of Representatives has called on President Joe Biden to try seeking a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine conflict rather than insisting on extending the war by supplying billions of dollars in weaponry to Kiev.

“A proxy war with Russia in Ukraine is not in the strategic interest of the United States and risks an escalation that could spiral out of control,” said Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and other Republican legislators in a letter sent to Biden on Thursday.

“Unrestrained US aid for Ukraine must come to an end, and we will adamantly oppose all future aid packages unless they are linked to a clear diplomatic strategy designed to bring this war to a rapid conclusion,” read the formal letter, further insisting that “our national and economic security demand an alternative.”

Open-ended aid to Ukraine is “fundamentally incompatible” with US interests, the Republicans also insisted, arguing: “There are appropriate ways in which the US can support the Ukrainian people, but unlimited arms supplies in support of an endless war is not one of them."

"Our national interests, and those of the Ukrainian people, are best served by incentivizing the negotiations that are urgently needed to bring this conflict to a resolution,” they pointed out.

Noting that Biden’s push to impose sanctions on Moscow and supply weapons to Kiev generates more risk of escalating the Ukraine crisis and lacks “much-needed strategic clarity,” the lawmakers further warned that the US president has offered no clear strategy to end the fighting. 

US Congress has so far approved $113 billion in military, economic and "humanitarian" aid to Ukraine since the conflict began in February 2022. Some of the weapons recently dedicated for Kiev, including M1 Abrams tanks, require months of training and transport – signaling that the Biden administration is “settling in” for a long-term conflict, the lawmakers pointed out.

“With every new aid package and every new weapon provided to Ukraine, the risk of direct conflict with Russia climbs,” added the letter, also signed by Ohio Senator James Vance and Representatives Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Anna Paulina Luna and Andy Biggs, among others.

“The US is in no position to expend $113 billion reinforcing a foreign military as our own military atrophies,” read the alarming letter amid reports that the burgeoning US debt has put the country at risk of its first-ever credit default.

US to grant Ukraine further $4.9 billion in ‘budget support’

The Biden administration has announced plans to grant the Ukrainian government an additional $4.9 billion in monetary aid next September “to provide critical services for its citizens.”

The  lawmakers further expressed concerns that growing US involvement in the Ukraine conflict, including military training and intelligence support, “makes it increasingly difficult to deny Russian accusations of US complicity in a proxy war.”

According to the letter, Ukrainian forces are burning through more artillery rounds each month than the US can manufacture in six months, also noting that Washington has given Kiev more Javelin anti-tank missiles than it can make in four years. 

The Republican legislators also argued that Biden’s tactics have brought Russia and China closer together, giving credence to conclusions that Washington is “inextricably opposed” to the interests of Moscow and Beijing.

Biden and the US Defense Department, the letter added, have also ignored their key responsibility of keeping Americans safe by pushing the limits of America’s security readiness to arm Ukraine.

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