100 Conservative Leaders Press Support for Ukraine

Despite some reports that conservatives in the United States favor abandoning Ukraine, 100 conservative leaders just published an open letter of support. The letter was organized by the Vandenberg Coalition, a conservative foreign policy group (that I chair). The full list of signers can be found here. An article about the letter in National Review can be found here.

The text of the letter follows:

As conservatives, we are committed to the principle advanced by all Republican presidents since Eisenhower that the best way to keep America safe is to keep America strong. Without a single U.S. servicemember in harm’s way, America’s material support to Ukraine is degrading the war machine of Russia, one of the United States’ principal adversaries—an aggressive power working hand in hand with China to reduce America’s prosperity and overturn America’s victory in the Cold War.

For more than a year, Ukraine has defended itself from Russia’s barbaric invasion. Thousands of Ukrainians—military and civilians alike—have given their lives to protect their nation. Yet Ukrainians are not asking for American troops, only American weapons and equipment.

Americans are rightly frustrated by the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy. President Biden failed to deter Putin’s invasion; today, he seems more concerned about the prospects of a Russian defeat than of a Russian victory. His half measures have cost lives and time. It is a mystery to us why some would look at the president’s record on this issue and criticize him for being too "strong."

Only through decisive American leadership on the Ukraine war will Americans be safer at home and abroad. Efforts to stop our aid to Ukraine could lead to a Russian battlefield victory, with catastrophic effects for American security. Putin would eye the next stage of the Russian empire’s restoration, and China would have a green light to take Taiwan. Preventing a Russian victory is a critical American interest; additionally, continuing aid to Ukraine makes America safer because:

• Our aid has encouraged other nations to increase their defense spending and finally begin to acknowledge the importance of burden sharing, with fifteen other European nations now giving more in aid than the U.S. as a percentage of GDP.

• Improving our industrial base and replenishing our military stockpiles strengthens America’s supply chains, creates American jobs, and modernizes America’s manufacturing sector, providing a much-needed boost to our economy as well as our national security, while expanding our capacity to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan

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• Providing surplus arms to our allies and partners simultaneously bolsters their capabilities while strengthening America’s own defenses by replacing old weapons stockpiles with new, top-of-the-line equipment.

Abandoning America’s friends while they are falling victim to aggression is a pattern associated with the American left, from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Conservatives should not be rushing to lock arms with progressive isolationists. The security of Asia and of Europe are linked, which is why the elected leaders of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia have all sent aid to Ukraine. We support urgent, robust additional American aid to Ukraine.