Ukrainian soldiers like these men have been resisting Russian aggression since their country was invaded in February of 2022. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and his allies on Capitol Hill have introduced legislation to require President Joe Biden to define the U.S. strategy regarding the war in the Ukraine (Image courtesy of the U.S. Institute of Peace).
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Amid the circus of the narrowly-averted government shutdown last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) kept his attention riveted on critical foreign affairs by introducing the Define the Mission Act.
That proposed legislation would require President Joe Biden to submit a comprehensive strategy to guide the U.S. involvement in the ongoing war in the Ukraine to Congress with 30 days of its enactment into law.
“The Biden administration’s ‘as long as it takes’ approach to Ukraine is unacceptable,” Lee said, explaining the reason for his proposed legislation.
“Frankly, that’s not a strategy,” he added. “Before we spend another penny on Ukraine, the administration owes Congress and the American people a plan of action.”
The Define the Mission Act is supported in the Senate by co-sponsors J.D. Vance (R-OH), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Mike Braun (R-IN), who joined Lee in demanding that the president provide the American people clarity and transparency on the U.S. engagement in Ukraine.
A companion bill to Lee’s legislative proposal was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH).
Since Russia invaded the Ukraine in February of 2022, the United States has provided the Ukrainian government with $113 billion in support. That includes humanitarian, financial and military aid, according the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.
The historic sums are helping a broad range of Ukrainian people and institutions, including refugees and law enforcement, although most of the aid has been military-related.
An additional $24 billion requested by the White House nearly derailed the 11th hour continuing resolution that averted a threatened federal government shutdown on Oct. 1.
Historians and political observers suggest that the Ukraine war has generated complex political responses as no regional conflict on the European continent has since the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.
Although the issues at stake are different, because ideology — communism versus fascism — drove the earlier struggle, while the current one was unleashed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal land grab, both conflicts rapidly developed into “proxy wars.”
In that earlier conflict, German and Italian fascists quickly entered the war to support Spanish Nationalists, while the Soviet Union waded in to support the Republican side.
While the western democracies claimed to be neutral, most sent military equipment – particularly aircraft designs – for combat testing against Nazi and Italian designs, plus volunteers to join the poorly trained Republican forces.
The Ukraine has proven to be a similar testing ground for equipment from the U.S. and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which the Ukrainians are using against less modern Russian equipment.
For example, In the summer of 2023, the United States gave its consent for European nations to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American-made F-16s fighter jets and to eventually supply those warplanes to Kyiv.
Although NATO nations are wary of being pulled directly into the hostilities, which would dramatically raise the risk of nuclear war, they continue to feed the proxy conflict in the Ukraine.
“The Ukraine proxy war is the Washington war hawk regime’s latest obsession,” according to Davidson, Lee’s ally in the House.
“It’s our responsibility to demand a defined mission on behalf of the American people and get concrete answers to avoid an endless war.”
Without a clear strategy, Lee’s staff explained, the United States risks repeating past errors seen in prolonged engagements. The Define the Mission Act underscores the urgency for an exit strategy that seeks to achieve a cease-fire between Russia and the Ukraine , while placing America’s national interests at the forefront, they said.
“This bill requires the Biden administration to put pen to paper and define our goal in Ukraine,” Lee concluded.