From the day Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized his war of aggression against Ukraine, the Biden administration has devoted itself to explaining why it’s important for the United States to help Kyiv resist the Russian military onslaught. Having dealt with issues related to Ukraine as former President Barack Obama’s vice president, President Joe Biden has taken command of the effort. One could make the case that sustaining Ukraine’s military campaign was Biden’s top foreign policy priority—that is, until Oct. 7, when Hamas slaughtered more than 1,400 people in Israel.
In the first year of the war, Biden didn’t really have much work to do. The heavy Russian bombardment, the siege of Mariupol, and the repeated war crimes perpetrated by Russian troops were such a shock to the conscience that Americans by and large were already convinced that Washington and its European allies should hit Putin and hold him accountable for a grisly violation of international law. You didn’t need to work at a reputable public relations firm on Madison Avenue to recognize that “stand up to the bully Putin” was a decent enough selling point for the administration. The same could be said for the Europeans, whose leaders suddenly had to come to terms with the fact that 21st century Europe wasn’t as enlightened as they assumed.
Yet 21 months after the war started, it’s becoming more difficult for U.S. policymakers to make their case for endless Ukrainian support. The American people are still willing to provide military aid to Ukraine, but the numbers are getting lower as the fighting grinds on. In July 2022, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that 72 percent of Americans supported sending arms and other military supplies to the Ukrainians; by last month, that figure dropped to 63 percent. The war in Ukraine is now a partisan issue, with the same Chicago Council survey measuring an 18-point dip over the same period among Republicans on the question of whether arms donations to Kyiv were appropriate.
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