Joe Biden can’t stop making America look weak

The White House’s mixed signals on how to arm the Ukrainian military is music to the Kremlin’s ears

If anything is guaranteed to encourage Vladimir Putin to maintain his murderous assault against the Ukrainian people, it is the sound of mixed messaging coming from the Biden administration over how best to support the Ukrainian cause.

In many respects, the Western alliance, having failed miserably to prevent the conflict in the first place, is starting to show signs of having a good war. The unprecedented sanctions imposed against Russia, which have already had a devastating impact on its economy, have clearly taken the Kremlin by surprise. They have demonstrated a strength of resolve and unity of purpose among Western leaders that Mr Putin did not think was possible as he weighed whether or not to go ahead with the invasion.

And the longer the Western powers can maintain a united front, the more pressure Mr Putin will come under to end his brutal bombardment, especially if the sanctions precipitate a total collapse of the Russian economy, which appears a very strong possibility given that the rouble has now halved in value since the start of the year.

When prominent Russian oligarchs are warning that Russia is facing an economic catastrophe similar to 1998, which led to Moscow defaulting on its debt, it is clear the sanctions are having the desired effect. Not even Mr Putin can wage a war if he has no money to pay for it.

The only ray of light for the Russian leader, therefore, would be if divisions develop among Western leaders that begin to undermine the effectiveness of their stand against the Kremlin. In this regard, the contradictory, and sometimes confusing, statements emanating from the White House on the Ukraine conflict are hardly helpful.

From the outset, US President Joe Biden has shown a woeful grasp of what is at stake in Ukraine. In January, he was forced to issue a correction after he appeared to suggest that no action would be taken against Russia if it only mounted a “minor incursion” into Ukraine.

Then, to compound the image that he does not fully comprehend the issue, in his State of the Union address earlier this month he managed to confuse Ukraine with Iran, two very different countries that present very different policy challenges to Washington.

The sense that the White House is not entirely on top of the Ukraine brief has increased, furthermore, as the fighting has intensified, with Washington giving conflicting signals about how best to help the Ukrainian war effort.

The Ukrainian military’s impressive performance in preventing the Russians from over-running the country in just a few days, which was Mr Putin’s expectation when he launched the invasion, has been helped considerably by the training and support they have received from the West. Britain has trained around 25,000 Ukrainian troops, and the British anti-tank weapons delivered before hostilities commenced have been used to devastating effect against Russian heavy armour. Similarly, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles provided by the US have stopped the Russians from establishing air superiority over Ukraine, with Russian warplanes sustaining heavy losses.

Making sure the Ukrainians have the arms they need to sustain this valiant effort is, therefore, essential if Kyiv is to prevail in its efforts to thwart the Russian advance.

In particular, the Ukrainians are in desperate need of extra aircraft to protect their citizens and, following a direct appeal last weekend by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the West to supply more warplanes, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, appeared to support the move, saying that plans for Poland to provide 28 Soviet-era MIG-29 fighter jets had been given a “green light” by Washington.

But when Poland offered to fly the jets to a US base in Germany to prepare them for delivery to Ukraine, the Biden administration quickly changed its mind, with the Pentagon warning it could result in a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato.

At a time when the Ukrainian people are fighting for their lives, Washington’s conflicting signals risk undermining Western unity, as leaders argue about the best way of supporting Ukraine.

As a sovereign nation, Ukraine is perfectly within its rights to obtain arms to defend itself, and acquiring warplanes should be seen as no different from receiving shipments of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Consequently, if the Biden administration is really serious about making sure that Mr Putin pays a heavy price for invading Ukraine, it should be working overtime to help the Ukrainians receive the kit they need, instead of putting obstacles in their way.

For far too long, Western policymakers have urged caution when dealing with Moscow for fear of provoking a confrontation. That approach has patently failed now that Mr Putin has torn up the international rule book by invading Ukraine. In future, Washington needs to act decisively to defend its interests, irrespective of whether it causes offence to Moscow.