Three years have now passed since war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. The toll this needless conflict has taken is unbearable and needless. From the onset, I have opposed every single penny of American taxpayer dollars to fund the proxy war. Let me be clear: I feel no animus toward the Ukrainian people, nor any special affinity for Vladmir Putin. In fact, I would like to see both populations thrive and so I oppose their needless slaughter to serve the misguided ambitions of the pro-war military industrial complex and its allies in our foreign policy establishment. The leftist media routinely spins any advocacy for peace as the drivel of a Russian stooge or a puppet for Putin. I am neither. For the sake of humanity, peace abroad is in the world’s best interest. The cause of the ongoing conflict cannot be reduced to a single narrative. In fact, for nearly three decades, the United States played a multifaceted role that undoubtedly led to the war. In February 1990, Secretary of State James Baker told the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that “if the Soviets allowed a reunified Germany to remain in NATO and U.S. troops remained in that country, the alliance’s jurisdiction would not move ‘one inch to the east.’” Despite these assurances, in 1993 then-President Bill Clinton expanded NATO, surrounding the former Soviet Union. Clinton was determined to move ahead no matter how the Russians felt and no matter what promises had been made. “The basic U.S. attitude was that if Moscow did not like the idea, too bad for them,” wrote Michael Chapman at the Cato Institute. In 2002, President George W. Bush announced the United States’ exit from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which sought to cap the arms race by limiting homeland missile defenses, thus reducing pressures on the superpowers to build more nuclear weapons. Bush promptly ordered the placement of Anti-Ballistic Missile systems along Russian borders. At Bush’s urging, NATO further exacerbated tensions at the 2008 Bucharest Summit by promising Ukraine entrance into NATO. In 2010, the Ukrainian people elected Viktor Yanukovych, whose administration favored reconciliation and peaceful relations with Russia. This was not to the U.S. State Department’s liking. In 2014, then-Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland coordinated with assets in the CIA and USAID to unseat Yanukovych in a coup d’état. During the coup a call between senior U.S. diplomats leaked to the press wherein Nuland was overheard discussing which leaders should be allowed to remain and which should be removed. Nuland seemed to have “very clear ideas about what the outcome should be and [was] striving to achieve these goals,” according to the BBC. Nuland’s choice was Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a rabidly anti-Russian politician. With America’s help, Yatsenyuk emerged as the new Prime Minister. Those actions, along with others, caused Putin to feel profoundly betrayed, humiliated and threatened. In response, Russia began massing tanks and troops along the Ukrainian border. Two months before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin recalled America’s past promises noting “We remember … how you promised us in the 1990s that [NATO] would not move an inch to the east. You cheated us, shamelessly: there have been five waves of NATO expansion.” Today, as the war continues, the Western press and neoconservatives refuse to acknowledge America’s three-decade involvement contributing to the conflict. They also refuse to acknowledge that the Kyiv regime has repeatedly violated its citizens’ civil liberties. Under Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian government has arrested priests and raided a monastery, suspended 11 opposition political parties, and consolidated all television platforms into one state channel. Appropriately, President Donald Trump referred to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator without elections.” This is correct. Zelenskyy’s term ended in May 2024, yet he has decided to remain in power, canceling elections and declaring martial law. Contrast this with the United States, which held elections throughout two World Wars and during the Civil War. This all changes with Trump, whose agenda is for peace and negotiation between the belligerents. This is, and must always be, the first order priority of the United States. Our role as leader of the free world should be that of a peacemaker, not a warmonger. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently remarked that he did “not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.” Critics decried Hegseth’s comments, calling them pro-Russian concessions. But Hegseth reframed the issue, explaining that “simply pointing out realism–like the borders won’t be rolled back to what everybody would like them to be in 2014–is not a concession to Vladimir Putin. It’s a recognition of the hard power realities on the ground after a lot of investment and sacrifice … and then a realization that a negotiated peace is going to be some sort of demarcation that neither side wants.” The horrific Russia-Ukraine War has lasted three years, taking the lives of countless individuals on both sides and costing American taxpayers countless billions of dollars. I will never cheer on nor support needless bloodshed, environmental destruction, and potential nuclear annihilation at the exclusive benefit of the military-industrial complex and other war profiteers. Instead, I will always try my best to pursue peace and reconciliation. That is why I invited Putin and Zelenskyy to come to Arizona to engage in peace talks. I plan to continue my opposition to sending American taxpayer money to Ukraine, as well as my support for a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war. It’s time to end the needless war and I laud the efforts of Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Hegseth to bring the annihilation of multiple Eastern European peoples to an end. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post It’s Time to End the War Between Ukraine and Russia appeared first on The Daily Signal.
