President Biden Must Fully Unleash Ukraine On Russian Soil

It is Unfair to Give Russia a Safe Haven to Terrorize Ukrainian Citizens

In a world where democracy is under siege, Ukraine is a shining beacon of hope and freedom. In the future, movies will be made about this nation’s bold fight against Russia and A-List Hollywood celebrities will line-up to play Ukraine’s brave and fearless hero, President Volodymyr Zelensky. That is – if Ukraine’s key western allies finally unshackle the Ukrainian military to use advanced western missiles to strike military bases and critical infrastructure inside Russia. 

The United States and Europe are making an historic error by not allowing Ukraine to fight Russia fair and square. Unless NATO countries loosen their grip, they will eventually hand Russia a preventable victory that will plague the West for generations.

I understand President Joe Biden’s initial reluctance at fully arming Ukraine and restricting America’s most lethal weapons from striking Russian soil. He has the unenviable task of walking a geopolitical tightrope, where he arms Ukraine while preventing World War III.

However, Russia is currently in no position to fight NATO, given that the blustering bear has been unable to quickly defeat a neighbor in which it is 28.5 times larger and has roughly 3.5 times the population (146 million vs 43 million).

Times have changed and it is incumbent that Biden adjust to the new reality. Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s once-feared red lines are more like red smoke he’s blowing up the West’s derriere. It’s clear that NATO would defeat Russia in a matter of months if a full-fledged conflict broke out. After all, they can’t even beat Ukraine after more than 2 years of intense battle.

The only card Russia holds is nuclear weapons, with more than 5,000 warheads, but the United States has more than 3,500, a sizable arsenal which guarantees assured mutual destruction. So, Russia’s nuclear option doesn’t bring it any closer to victory—only the possibility of Putin being known as the Last Czar, as Moscow is reduced to ash and St. Petersburg to dust. Sure, in this scenario the West doesn’t survive either, but Russia still doesn’t possess Kiev and Putin isn’t lionized as the new Peter the Great.

Unless Putin is crazy and suicidal, he will refrain from using nuclear weapons to subdue Ukraine. And, if he is insane, there is nothing we can do about it, other than appeasing a deranged Putin, by letting a revanchist Russia reconstitute the Soviet Union.

Clearly, this is not an option.

At times, we fail to sufficiently appreciate the modern miracle of Ukraine surviving Russia’s massive February 24, 2022 invasion. A second marvel occurred when Ukraine daringly entered Russia’s Kursk region on August 7. This was the first foreign military presence on Russian soil since World War II. Kiev has taken more Russian territory than Russia has captured in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. Ukraine now controls at least 482 square miles of Russian territory and 92 settlements. 

Russia responded to this humiliation today with a massive barrage of missiles and drones targeting Ukraine’s energy sector. The goal is to demoralize Ukrainians by keeping them in the dark or freezing in the winter.  Zelensky reacted to the latest bombardment, begging NATO to allow Ukraine to strike military bases inside Russia – where devastating missiles and war planes are launched daily from what amounts to an untouchable sanctuary zone.

“Every leader, every one of our partners, knows the decisive actions required to end this war justly. Ukraine cannot be constrained in its long-range capabilities when the terrorists face no such limitations,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky is correct and skittish western leaders, who haven’t thought through the dire ramifications of Russia swallowing Ukraine, need to get out of the way. The United States passed a $61 billion aid bill, which included top-tier missiles and air defense systems. It is time these fearsome weapons are unleashed on Russian soil. The decision should be made in secret, so Ukraine can wallop Russia before it knows what hit it.

Ruthless dictators, like Putin, only understand brute strength. Pounding Russian bases and critical military infrastructure will send a signal that the West is in this fight to win. Moreover, to end this struggle the Russian public needs to feel pain and fully understand it is in a brutal war instead of a “special military operation”, the euphemistic propaganda term favored by the Kremlin. It is also in NATO’s interest to allow the Ukrainian military to destroy as many of Russia’s weapons and munitions factories as possible, so Russia is weakened, god forbid a direct confrontation occurs.

If we don’t free Ukraine to do our dirty work, we could end up facing a powerful Russian menace that has built a formidable war machine. Indeed, the entire country has recently been transformed into a war-based economy, cranking out tanks, missiles and mortars. The Guardian reported:  

Moscow’s official defense budget was up by more than 60% in 2024, meaning that Russian “total military spending now represents one third of its national budget and will now reach 7.5% of GDP, signaling the focus on its war effort”

…supply chains have been redesigned to secure many key inputs and evade sanctions, and factories producing ammunition, vehicles and equipment are running around the clock, often on mandatory 12-hour shifts with double overtime, in order to sustain the Russian war machine for the foreseeable future.

The transformation has put defense at the center of Russia’s economy. Putin claimed that 520,000 new jobs had been created in the military-industrial complex, which now employs an estimated 3.5 million Russians, or 2.5% of the population.

As Russian society morphs into Sparta, do we really think a country fully dependent on its military industrial complex, and led by an increasingly grandiose Putin, will stop with Kiev? Will he not see victory as a sign from God and test the boundaries of NATO countries, which he considers soft, easily distracted and not fully committed to maintaining optimal military readiness?

Ukraine has performed admirably and with magnificent courage. They do so under the cloud of Putin’s best buddy, Donald Trump, potentially winning reelection. It is unclear what will happen in the Nov. 5 elections, but Biden has an obligation to unleash Ukraine to inflict maximum damage, so no matter who wins the presidency, Ukraine is well-positioned at the negotiating table.

No matter what happens, this horrific and epic war will one day be a Hollywood movie. Whether it’s a feel-good action flick or a tear-jerking historic tragedy is now in President Biden’s hands. The free world’s future is in the balance and Biden must free Ukraine to win, instead of suffering indefinitely in an unequal fight.