JRL NEWSWATCH: “How to advance vital U.S. interests by helping Ukraine win and defining its path to NATO membership” – The Atlantic Council/ Ambassadors John Herbst, Steven Pifer, Alexander Vershbow, 40 others
“TO: POTUS
FROM: Ambassadors John Herbst, Steven Pifer, Alexander Vershbow, and 40 other national security leaders
SUBJECT: A bold agenda for the Washington summit: How to advance vital U.S. interests by helping Ukraine win and defining its path to NATO membership”
In 2024 the United States will host a NATO summit marking NATO’s seventy-fifth anniversary. The international order faces an authoritarian alignment between China and Russia set on undermining the international order, the United States, global security and global prosperity. The most pressing danger is Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“… Moscow’s brutal war, which some legal experts have concluded is genocide … is part of a Kremlin plan to reimpose its will [on former Soviet territory] and beyond. If not clearly defeated … Moscow will continue … territorial conquests and threaten the security of the free world … giv[ing] the United States a vital stake in the war’s outcome.
[T]wo things [that are required]:
- A clear commitment to help Ukraine achieve decisive success on the battlefield. … mov[ing] beyond [the West’s] … slow and incremental approach ….
- As European stability and security requires a secure Ukraine, Ukraine must be anchored in transatlantic security arrangements so that Russia is deterred from attacking again. The 2024 NATO summit should define Ukraine’s path to membership in NATO, including … membership accession talks. …
… The United States has supplied approximately $76 billion in military and economic aid …. Europe … approximately $97 billion. With this aid, Ukraine has destroyed approximately 50 percent of Russia’s conventional military capability, making our assistance a smart and economical investment …. Russian forces have proven unable to take political control of [Ukraine], although the aid provided to Kyiv has not been sufficient to enable Ukraine to inflict a decisive defeat. …”