Observers of American support for Ukraine would likely consider the Democrats to be pro-Ukraine and the Republicans anti-Ukraine. This observation would be a generally accurate portrayal of recent budgetary considerations in the U.S. Congress regarding military aid for Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the conclusion that Democrats in the United States be considered pro-Ukraine constitutes a case of grand historic irony. Indeed, the catastrophic invasion of Ukraine was largely caused or facilitated by five actions by American Democrat politicians. Without these actions, Ukraine would likely be living in peace and security. Russia would have been deterred and stymied in its empirical mission, at least to its west. And there would be no need for American taxpayers to foot the bill to keep brave Ukrainians armed to keep their country from annihilation.

To obtain a better contextual understanding of the Ukraine situation, these five decisions by American Democrats must be called out.

1. 1994: Bill Clinton and denuclearization. The post-Soviet period was a time of economic deprivation for the republics recently freed from Moscow’s grip. Ukraine would have struggled mightily to maintain a nuclear program. However, by succumbing to pressure to denuclearize, Ukraine lost its deterrence against future Russian invasion. Had Ukraine maintained its nukes, then the Ukraine-to-NATO discussion becomes unnecessary. Most likely, had Bill Clinton not acted in such a way, the Russian invasions of Ukraine would not have happened in this chapter of history.
2. 2009: Failed Russian reset by Hillary Clinton. There was no inherent reason why the USA needed to have a negative relationship with post-communist Russia. In fact, America should have kept Russia close enough to prevent being squeezed by a foreseeable Russia-China axis, which has now formed. Clinton and Obama were not able to create a healthy relationship with Russia, nor did they lift a finger in protest when Russia went into Crimea and the Donbas in 2014.
3. 2016: Russia Collusion Hoax, spawned by the Clinton campaign and outgoing Obama administration. This horrific hoax kneecapped Trump politically for his entire term, caused the U.S. House to flip back to the Democrats in 2018, and pre-empted any opportunity Trump would have had to build a reasonable relationship with Russia. If Hillary Clinton and Obama wanted to cripple Trump, there were many possible conspiracies they could have hatched. Unfortunately, they relied on old Cold War antipathies toward Russia.
4. 2021: Biden reverses Trump energy policies, resulting in higher global energy prices, enriching Russia, and bankrolling Putin’s war on Ukraine. If energy prices held steady and low, as they were under Trump, Putin would have been unable to finance this long war in Ukraine. All this can be attributed to Climate Change activism and the Green policies which dominates Biden Administration decision-making.
5. 2022 onward: The Biden Administration has continued to give Ukraine what it has given, but on a “too little, too late” basis. Earlier investment in Ukraine in funds and weaponry could have saved all parties a protracted war and its unending requirement for additional support.

General Mark Milley and U.S. intelligence predicted Kiev would fall within three days of the February 2022 Russian invasion. This was ludicrous on many levels. Anyone familiar with Ukrainian history over the past century will understand -- after the Soviet colonization of Ukraine, and the Stalin-imposed “Forced Famine” (The Holodomor) -- that Ukrainians will never voluntarily accept Russian colonization again. My in-laws fled Ukraine to escape Muscovite communism. As a nation, Ukrainians will fight to the death to preserve their country, with or without international support.

We live in a very dangerous time globally. American hegemony is in question. American weakness has emboldened Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea. Ukraine provides one tragic theater where this is playing out. Approximately 100,000 Ukrainians have died, with countless Ukrainian children kidnapped and exiled to Russia, in a war that could have been prevented or deterred. Putin still bears the culpability for the death and destruction in Ukraine.  Yet, America in general, and its Democrat elected officials in particular, have been far from pro-Ukraine.

Image: Office of the President of Ukraine