HUDSON INSTITUTE
1
A STRATEGY OF COURAGE: THE NEXT
PHASE OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
POLICY MEMO
A Strategy of Courage:
The Next Phase of the
Russia-Ukraine War
Luke Coey
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Peter Rough
Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia, Hudson Institute
April 2024
Introduction
As Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year,
now is a propitious moment to take stock of the United States’
approach to the war. After Ukraine’s staunch defense of Kyiv in
spring 2022 and its successful Kharkiv and Kherson oensives
later that year, the West had high expectations for Ukraine’s
2023 counteroensive in the south and east. That Ukraine did
not achieve all its objectives in that campaign says less about
Ukraine’s military than it does about Kyiv’s Western supporters.
Regrettably, the West did not provide Ukraine what it needed in
a timely fashion to liberate its territory.
Ukraine neither needs nor wants US boots on the ground.
Unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan, there are no American soldiers
ghting in Ukraine, and the leadership in Kyiv has not asked
for American soldiers to join the ght. All that Ukrainians have
requested are the weapons, munitions, and equipment that
they need to ght o the Russian invasion themselves.
In the early months of the conict, the US led the way in
providing Ukraine with crucial supplies. However, US support
has fallen o dramatically. By almost any measure of aid—
military, economic, or humanitarian—Europe now signicantly
outpaces the US in support to Ukraine.
