In her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris cited her mother’s memorable advice: “A direct quote — never do anything half-assed.” If she passed on that maternal wisdom to President Biden, it obviously fell on deaf ears when it came to helping Ukraine defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s invasion and multiple war crimes.
Harris repeated her mother’s words cheerfully, but there is nothing happy about Biden’s failure to follow a clear and decisive course on Ukraine. Instead, he has condemned Ukraine to a long war of attrition and possibly a slow national death, by slow-walking U.S. weapons support and permission for its use.
This stalemate has come at a tremendous cost in Ukrainian (and conscript Russian) lives, destruction of historic Ukrainian cities and life-supporting infrastructure, and loss of sovereignty over its territory — something the U.S., the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation solemnly guaranteed in the 2004 Budapest Memo.
The pattern of U.S. decision-making has been consistent since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. First was the refusal or indefinite delay in delivery of essential defensive and deterrent weapons systems. Then, even when the arms were finally delivered, Biden has placed unconscionable limits on their use by Ukraine despite what he has called “a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality” — attacks on children’s hospitals and other civilian targets — adding to the long list of Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Oleksandra Ustinova, a Ukrainian member of parliament involved in monitoring arms supplies, las week expressed Ukraine’s frustration. “I’ve been hearing about nuclear escalation since the first day. First it was, ‘if Ukraine gets MIGs from Poland, he’s going to use nukes.’ Then it was the HIMARS, then Patriots, then tanks.”
She related the consequences of Biden’s hesitation. “It’s like we’re running behind the train. Every time we ask for something, we get it months or a year later when it won’t make as much of a difference as it would have before.”
No matter how empty Russia’s threats of escalation have proved, including the use of nuclear weapons, Biden’s paralyzing fear persists. Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said last month, “Of course, we’re worried about escalation. Just because Russia hasn’t responded to something doesn’t mean that they can’t or won’t in the future.”
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the limits on strikes into Russia “crazy,” and his views have been echoed by NATO member states. Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has noted, without naming names, that not all NATO members have been as forthcoming about helping Ukraine as others. “Some allies have not imposed any restrictions at all, it varies a bit between allies, but allies have reduced the restrictions on the use of the weapons delivered to Ukraine, and this has allowed Ukraine to strike on the territory of Russia.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba repeated Zelensky’s appeals. “Kyiv needs support to finally lift restrictions on long-range strikes against all legitimate military targets in Russia. The EU can and should play a role in convincing the United States to make this decision,” he said.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron pointed out the absurdity of the U.S. position: “We are in fact telling them that we are delivering weapons to you, but you cannot defend yourself.”
Even the nonmilitary European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called on the West to lift restrictions on the use of weaponry against Russian targets. “The weaponry that we are providing to Ukraine has to have full use, and the restrictions have to be lifted in order for the Ukrainians to be able to target the places where Russia is bombing them,” he said. “Otherwise, the weaponry is useless.”
In his remaining months in office, Biden must reverse his inclination to follow Barack Obama’s policy of “leading from behind.” As Harris’s mother said, “never do anything half-assed.”
Joseph Bosco served as China country director for the secretary of Defense from 2005 to 2006 and as Asia-Pacific director of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief from 2009 to 2010. He is a nonresident fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies and a member of the advisory board of the Global Taiwan Institute.