Ukraine Must Win and We Must Make Sure of It | Opinion

America must help Ukraine for the same reasons we helped Europe defeat Nazi Germany: Their fight is our fight.

Thousands of Americans gave their lives 79 years ago to storm the beaches of Normandy. Their invasion brought down the Third Reich. Then-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower told the troops in his brief Order of the Day for June 6, 1944, that their victory would "bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world."

The same is true today. Morality alone compels us to come to the aid of a democratic people unjustly invaded by a brutal, autocratic leader. If there were any doubts on that score, they have been answered by Russia's conduct in their occupation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is engaged in a sustained war of destruction. His army has leveled Ukrainian cities. They execute local elites and any men capable of military service. They use systematic rape of women and girls as an instrument of terror. They force millions to flee their homes and kidnap tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, sending them to Russia for "re-education" and adoption. These actions alone compel us to act.

Suppling Ukraine with the weapons, training, and intelligence it needs to defeat the invaders is not just morally right. Our own security depends on it. Other nations have led unjust invasions. We are guilty of this ourselves. But not since the end of World War II has a country tried to redraw the boundaries of Europe by force. If Putin's annexation of a neighboring country stands it will not just gravely weaken this core pillar of European security, it will be an open invitation for Putin to continue his imperialist crusade.

One year ago, on June 9, Putin gave a speech on the war where he did not say one word about NATO enlargement (that some claim "provoked" his invasion) but he did compare himself to Tsar Peter the Great, whose war with Sweden, he said, was justly "returning" land to Russia. "Clearly, it fell to our lot to return and reinforce as well," he said. Putin believes that the Baltic States rightly belong to Russia. It was the fear of renewed Russian imperialism that motivated these countries and others in central Europe to join NATO in the 1990s and 2000s.

This is true of Sweden and Finland today. Both applied for NATO membership after the invasion. The United States is not manipulating them into a crusade to conquer Russia, as Putin and his supporters claim. These nations fear that Putin's goals go far beyond any defensive goals. They are abandoning decades of neutrality for the security of a joint defense. If we abandon Ukraine or force it to declare a ceasefire that leaves Putin in control of one-fifth or their country, Putin's appetite for conquest will not be sated but stimulated. There will be no peace. The Western Alliance will be in grave danger.

There are also sound economic reasons to aid Ukraine. Europe is one of our largest trading partners, with over $1 trillion in goods and services crossing the Atlantic each year. "For Europe, it is also essential that Ukraine win and Russia loses," says Yale historian Timothy Snyder. Putin's goals include destroying the European Union and the liberal international order it embodies. He would like to replace it with economic and security pacts lead by Russia and China—a devastating blow to America's economic interests.

Our aid to Ukraine has been a bargain. It is a small percentage of our annual military budget. No Americans soldiers are fighting or dying. It is a model of how America should operate in the world, not imposing our will but aiding those nations who want the same freedoms and rights that we enjoy. As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his moving address to a joint meeting of Congress, U.S. support for Ukraine "is not charity, it's investment in global security and democracy."

Joseph Cirincione is a national security analyst and author with over 40 years experience in Washington, D.C. He publishes the Substack newsletter, Strategy and History.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.