Americans who support Ukraine’s war effort say the US has not done enough

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Every time American philanthropist Amed Khan returns to Ukraine, he begins by offering his condolences to those killed in war since his last trip. Over the past two and a half years, his group has provided more than $50 million in aid to civilians and soldiers fighting to survive the Russian invasion.

Some of them are already dead.

For Khan, a US government official turned philanthropist, those he supports are like family. He travels to meet them on the front lines and in war-torn cities. His closeness to those who endured the war also exposes him to the pain and loss they experience firsthand.

“When you’re directly involved with people, you feel the pain of war,” he says, moments after meeting a father who survived a bombing that killed his son.

Khan and many other Americans across the U.S. political spectrum who support Ukraine’s war effort, either through financial aid or volunteer combat, say the U.S. — Ukraine’s main ally — has not done enough to help Ukraine defeat Russia. They doubt Tuesday’s US election will change that.

“Since the war began, the United States has been able to rally its allies to support Ukraine, but not as well as it should,” said Khan, who worked on then-President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign.

“So I think their strategy is not necessarily for Ukraine to win and for Russia to lose.”

He spoke to The Associated Press over the weekend in the eastern Kharkiv region, one of several stops on his planned route — all located along the front line.

The US has provided more than $59.5 billion in military aid since Russia invaded in 2022, yet many say Kiev’s potential has often been blocked by US policy. Ukrainian officials say promised weapons often arrive late.

Zelensky’s requests for an invitation to join NATO and permission to use weapons donated by the West to strike deeper into Russia have been met with caution by the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden amid fears of escalation with a nuclear-armed Russia .

Biden’s running mate, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, is likely to follow a similar policy, while former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has repeatedly challenged US aid to Ukraine and may seek to further limit military support , though he, too, cited an unspecified plan to end the war quickly.

Meanwhile, Russia managed to strengthen its alliances with Iran and North Korea, with the latter sending troops to help Russia fight.

“If the war escalates, then we’re in it … and we’re not even giving Ukraine enough to win,” said another American philanthropist, Howard G. Buffett, during a recent visit to Ukraine, his 16th at the outbreak of the epidemic. war. “And we never had a strategy of how we were going to beat Russia,” Buffett said.

Buffett, a Republican and the son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, focuses on humanitarian needs such as infrastructure, agriculture and demining, and his foundation has contributed about $800 million to Ukraine.

“If Ukraine is not successful, the rest of the democratic world will pay a heavy price,” Buffett told the AP. “And the fact that we all don’t collectively understand that, see that, and act on that is going to be the biggest mistake that’s ever going to happen in my lifetime.”

Compelled by the same belief, an American volunteer flew to Poland in August to enlist in Ukraine’s international legion after mulling over the choice for about a year.

“I feel like the decision was harder than it should have been,” says the 35-year-old fighter, who asked to be identified by the callsign Smoky in accordance with Ukrainian military protocol. A former accountant with no military experience, he now serves in one of Ukraine’s units in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Smoky, a father of two young daughters, says watching the impact of Russia’s invasion on Ukrainian families “weighed heavily” on him.

As the US election campaign rages on at home, Smoky says he’s happy to be “away from all this drama”. Instead, he focuses on preparing for his first mission as an infantryman.

“We are tying Ukraine’s hands with restrictions on the use of certain weapons,” he argues. “Looks like we’re just prolonging the war.”

Another 25-year-old volunteer fighter from Texas, with the call sign Dima, began a three-month commitment to fight in Ukraine in 2022, which has since turned into a years-long commitment.

A former Marine, he saw some of the fiercest battles of the war, including the longest for Bakhmut, after which he took his only break. When he flew back to meet his family and friends back home, no one could relate to his experiences.

Besides, “the U.S. is dealing with so many of our problems right now,” he said.

“So they feel like they’re less inclined now to send more tax money here, which I understand,” he said. “But as someone who has been here since the beginning of the war, I can see that there is definitely a need.”

Khan, who now manages about 300 ongoing projects in Ukraine, urged his fellow Americans to focus on the lives shattered by the conflict in Ukraine, stressing that the outcome of the war could significantly affect global security.

Khan said he hoped the winner of the US presidential election “will really spend more time understanding what’s going on here. I would urge whoever wins to do that and then try to find a new way to end this war.”

Associated Press reporter Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.