By Tatiana H Moore

The United States of America is no longer a valuable ally, and we need to stop pretending that it is. Not that I needed to go to Ukraine to find myself with this opinion, but I did. I just got back from a three month stint in Ukraine where after visiting family, I volunteered and also worked at a summer camp for children of affected families. My relationship with Ukraine is more than just ancestral. I speak the language, I advocate, I get involved, and I even work for a Ukrainian American Non Government Organization (NGO).

 I never thought I would advocate for the US to leave Ukraine alone. For years, the U.S has touted itself as Ukraine’s greatest ally in the fight against Russia, but I disagree. The meetings with Putin, diminishing Financial aid packages, and hemming and hawing on air defense have only served to center the U.S in a conflict that Ukraine should be central to. American officials continue to position Washington as a necessary middleman between Kyiv and Moscow, while Ukraine is left having to respond to proposals that directly affect its territory and sovereignty. A country that believes the best solution for Ukraine is to cede territory and withdraw its EU application is no ally of Ukraine. 

The U.S. needs to understand that Ukraine is not a chessboard for American foreign policy. The U.S. has every right to decide how it spends American money and what role it wants to play internationally, but what it does not have is the moral authority to decide what Ukrainians should sacrifice for peace. In my humble opinion, Ukraine is better off without the U.S. 

There is an uncomfortable history with America’s relationship to Ukraine that I rarely hear discussed. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to surrender its nuclear arsenal, an arsenal that made it the third-largest nuclear power in the world at the time. In return, Ukraine joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and received security assurances from the United States, explicitly affirming respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and existing borders. This deal was made by the United States and helped create the conditions Ukraine finds itself in today. The U.S. has a responsibility to remember this history and more importantly, to uphold the promises made, but that hope has long been lost ever since the U.S. sat by and watched the annexation of Crimea in 2014. 

The U.S has played a major role in supporting Ukraine, particularly through military and financial assistance, and while I do believe this support has been important, the time has come for America to bow out. Europe’s role has grown substantially as U.S support has declined. Europe has provided military aid, financial support, humanitarian aid, refugee support and training of Ukrainian soldiers. If Europe, a continent directly threatened by Russian aggression, can increasingly shoulder the responsibility of supporting Ukraine. Why does Washington still need to position itself as the indispensable leader of Ukraine’s future? 

Tatiana H Moore is a senior journalism major and a reporter/writer with LJ thm18@humboldt.edu