Left-wing lawmakers in the United States urged President Joe Biden on Monday to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia to end the Ukraine war, including by exploring security arrangements that are acceptable to both sides. In a letter, 30 Democratic House members from Biden’s party stated their opposition to Russia’s “outrageous and illegal invasion of Ukraine” and agreed with the White House that a settlement was up to Kiev.
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“However, as legislators responsible for the expenditure of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars in military assistance in the conflict, we believe such involvement in this war also creates a responsibility for the United States to seriously explore all possible avenues,” said the lawmakers led by House Progressive Caucus leader Representative Pramila Jayapal. They advocated for direct engagement with Russia in order to find a solution “acceptable to the people of Ukraine.” “Such a framework would presumably include incentives to end hostilities, including some form of sanctions relief,” they wrote. “The alternative to diplomacy is prolonged war, with all of its attendant certainties as well as catastrophic and unknown risks.”
Before launching the invasion on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded guarantees that the former Soviet republic would never join NATO, the Western military alliance. US officials were skeptical that NATO was his primary concern, noting that Ukraine had little chance of joining the alliance, but they were engaged in high-level talks with Russia until the invasion. When asked about the letter, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “Nobody cares more about the end of this war than our Ukrainian counterparts.”
“We don’t know when it will happen,” he told reporters, “because we haven’t seen any indication from the Russians that they are willing to engage in that diplomacy and dialogue.” “We’ve been giving our Ukrainian partners what they need on the battlefield so that when a negotiating table emerges, they’ll be in the best possible position,” Price said. “We’ve been very clear: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said separately. The United States approved $40 billion in aid to Ukraine in May, spearheading Western efforts to provide weapons while also supporting an economy devastated by Russian attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had reluctantly held out the prospect of dropping the NATO bid to avert war, has vowed to defeat the Russian invaders and reclaim the territory they have occupied.
