Ohio Senator JD Vance Opposes United States Aid To Ukraine at Munich Security Conference
Jose Nino
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You can count Ohio Senator JD Vance as one of the strongest opponents of aid to Ukraine in the United States Senate.
During the Munich Security Conference on February 18, 2024, Vance argued that the current Ukraine aid package being debate in Congress “fundamentally change the reality” on the battlefield in Ukraine and that Russia has an incentive to reach a negotiated settlement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, USVice President Kamala Harris and other leading elected officials have advocated passage of the $60 billion in aid at the Munich Security Conference. These took place at a time when Ukraine has withdrawn troops from the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka after multiple months of brutal combat. .
Vance declared that “the problem in Ukraine … is that there’s no clear end point” and that the US government doesn’t produce enough weapons to prosecute wars in eastern Europe, the Middle East, and “potentially a contingency in East Asia.”
For his part, House Speaker Mike Johnson stressed that he won’t be “rushed” into giving the greenlight to the $95.3 billion foreign aid package from the Senate that features military assistance for Ukraine, Johnson has come under fire from neoconservative Republicans and neoliberal Democrats for his hesitance in bringing this legislation to a vote.
If the package is passed, “that is not going to fundamentally change the reality on the battlefield,” Vance contened, calling attention to the precarious state of US’s American manufacturing capacity.
“Can we send the level of weaponry we’ve sent for the last 18 months?” he inquired. “We simply cannot. No matter how many checks the U.S. Congress writes, we are limited there.”
“I think what’s reasonable to accomplish is some negotiated peace,” he stated, contending that Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the US all have an incentive to come to the negotiating table to end this was that is about to hit its two-year anniversary on February 24, 2024.
Indeed, Senator Vance is correct in noting that military aid won’t change Ukraine’s fortunes against Russia in this conflict. In fact, continuing this escalation through increased military aid will likely prompt Russia to pursue more maximalist aims that could result in the complete destruction of the modern Ukrainian state.
For the sake of preserving of Ukraine, lawmakers in the West need to stop their shipments of military aid and head to the negotiation table.
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