To be honest, when it comes to supporting Ukraine and when the necessity of aid is questioned, as a US citizen, I have a question – are you suggesting we break the agreement made by the USA regarding guarantees of Ukraine’s sovereignty? Are you suggesting we weaken our European allies, at whose door Putin is already knocking, infiltrating European governments and trying to influence elections? Are you suggesting we strengthen Putin, who dreams of restoring the USSR, with whom the USA fought a Cold War?
As far as I know, China is currently the main adversary of the USA in the world. China was essentially a fishing village 30 years ago that couldn’t compete with the USA in any way. We gave them money and technology. They grew and have now become the main adversary of the USA. What are we talking about today? About strengthening another US enemy – Russia? And giving them a European foothold for expansion? This is just ridiculous. It’s ridiculous that we have to talk about how it would be a mistake for the USA to betray its allies.
Why did I go to Ukraine?
My mother is from Ukraine. We’ve always maintained relationships with our relatives. I used to go there almost every year. Last year I was there too, already during the war. I filmed several music videos there – Armageddon, Turn Back, Another Chance. By the way, the Armageddon video resonates with Donald Trump’s phrase about World War III. Even then, in 2023, it was obvious to me. And in this song, there are, I hope, prophetic words that we will stop this.
When I returned, I established the Kelsie Kimberlin Foundation to help Ukraine. Of course, in 2024, I traveled to Ukraine for this foundation’s business. A very important reason why I went there was the death of my cousin, who died in the war. He fought in the 3rd Assault Brigade and was a volunteer. This was probably the only chance to visit his grave because this place is currently 10 miles from the front line. And it’s unknown whether the Ukrainians will be able to hold this place.
About the trip to Ukraine
I met wonderful people there – volunteers who took me to my brother’s grave. As you understand, getting so close to the front line was a difficult task. The volunteers I traveled with had quite a long expedition, during which we visited the cemetery. It was a trip almost along the entire front line – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Kharkiv regions. We met many people and visited various interesting places. For example, we were in a maternity hospital in Kherson, which stands on the riverbank. And Russian troops were already standing across the river. And in this maternity hospital, people continue to give birth to children.
We were in mined and destroyed villages in the Donetsk region. We visited a tank repair factory. Also, as part of the foundation’s activities, we visited a training ground for drone pilots. I’m very concerned about this topic, and I’m actually involved in supplying drones to Ukraine. And this time, I brought quality American drones to Andrei’s fellow soldiers, my cousin’s comrades. You know, I met many people along my way. And all these people are fighting for Ukraine. They want Ukraine to be part of the Western world. After all, this war is not about territories; this is a war for civilization. About this, my latest trip to Ukraine, we made a documentary film with the Ukrainian team.
We see that the world is now divided into camps, one of which is the Western world, led by NATO, and the other is China, Iran, Russia, North Korea. And all the people I met along my way during my trip – they all want to be with us. They also say that our help is not enough. We talk a lot about how much we help, but look at the map, find Ukraine and Russia there. See how different they are. Look at Russia’s economy, which mainly lives off oil revenues. Of course, if we reduced income from oil sales. I think President Trump is right in the sense that Russian revenues need to be reduced by lowering oil prices. But we must also understand that Russia has huge weapons stockpiles left over from the USSR times, which was counting on waging war with the entire NATO bloc. It had an enormous number of tanks, missiles, and Ukraine took this hit upon itself, destroying most of the Soviet and Russian equipment, without having the ability to strike deep into Russia. Today we see how Ukrainians have created drones that fly deep into Russia and destroy its oil infrastructure. I think they need help with this and make it so that Russia also feels the war and make Russia feel the need to end the war.
About president Vladimir Zelensky
There’s a lot of talk now about the need to hold elections in Ukraine. I don’t know, it’s unlikely to unite the Ukrainian people. Most likely, it will split society, and this will definitely affect Ukraine’s ability to resist. If we think that Russia is not making attempts to change the situation in Ukraine, we are mistaken. Russia’s enormous machine works on feeding disinformation both in Ukraine and in Western countries. This machine is aimed at destabilizing situations both in Ukraine and in Western countries. Why do they do this? To capture Ukraine and weaken us.
According to Ukrainian law, Zelensky is the legitimate president of Ukraine. This thesis is opposed by Putin, who himself has been illegitimate for 25 years, as he rewrote his country’s constitution to suit himself. Zelensky hasn’t rewritten anything and, according to Ukrainian law, is the legitimate president. The war needs to be stopped, and then Ukraine will elect a new president. And referring to our experience and our legislation in this case isn’t entirely reasonable, because in 1944, the main territory of the USA wasn’t under missile attacks. Moreover, modern technologies allow enemies to interfere in elections remotely – they flood internet platforms with large volumes of information, which already expose contradictions within the country during election time. With the aim of achieving greater division in society.
There is no solution for Putin’s Russia that doesn’t mean capturing Ukraine. If we think that whether Russia captured Ukraine or not depends on Ukraine’s president, we are mistaken. As you know, problems with Russian expansion began in Ukraine back in 1994, when Kuchma was president. And territorial claims continued up until the military seizure of Crimea in 2014, when Viktor Yanukovych was still formally president.
There was a transfer of power to Turchynov, the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament. During Turchynov’s time, the seizure of Donbas began, attempts to capture Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and other cities. The war began then, in 2014.
And then there was hope to elect a president who would stop the war. They elected Poroshenko, but the war didn’t stop, then they elected Zelensky, and the war didn’t stop. Maybe the question isn’t about Ukraine’s president? So many presidents have changed in Ukraine, but Russia’s claims to Ukraine remained unchanged.
Perhaps a president in Ukraine like President Lukashenko in Belarus could have stopped the war, who completely gave his territory to Putin’s troops’ control, up to the placement of nuclear weapons, but this is needed neither by Ukrainians nor by us. Moreover, there’s another problem here: Russians recognize the existence of Belarus and Belarusians as a people, but don’t recognize the existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians as a separate people and nation, don’t recognize Ukraine as a state. Moreover, they tell most of Ukraine’s history as their own, having no relation to this history.
I was there, and I know a little Ukrainian and Russian languages. I can say that these are different languages. One simple example: Ukrainians understand Russian, but Russians don’t understand Ukrainian. Ukraine has its own rich culture with all its elements. Moreover, Ukraine and Russia are absolutely different political systems. You can simply take and count how many presidents have changed in Ukraine over thirty years and how many presidents have changed in Russia over thirty years and understand that these are two completely different societies.
There is some irony and parallel here: Hitler created a huge pseudo-racial theory, designating Jews as a separate race, with the desire to destroy Jews. Putin, on the contrary, didn’t distinguish Ukrainians as a race but simply doesn’t recognize the existence of the people, state, nation, and has exactly the same goal as Hitler: the destruction of the people. That is, I mean, if Russians don’t recognize Ukrainians as a separate nation and separate state, then it’s unlikely to end the war simply by changing the president in Ukraine. This is my opinion.
And who should be the president of Ukraine should be the decision of the Ukrainian people. I’m not a citizen of Ukraine and cannot interfere in their processes.
Peace for Ukraine
There’s a lot of talk now about the need for peace between Ukraine and Russia. I was there very recently, and I can say that Ukraine really needs peace. I saw many destruction, many deaths, people living in constant stress. Living there, you don’t know when and where rockets or Shaheds will hit. And people have been living in this state for 3 years. They definitely need relief, they definitely need to be given a state that will help ease their life. Peace between Ukraine and Russia is indeed important. And no less important is what it will be like. Putin has repeatedly stated that he is not going to change his goals. His closest associates Patrushev and Medvedev openly state that Ukraine should not exist. So what do we want to offer Ukraine? This is not clear to me yet. On the other hand, we often hear that America will pressure both Ukraine and Russia to achieve an end to the war. You know, this is like when someone tries to rob you on the street, threatening with a knife. The police arrive, give you a knife and say – “we will pressure both sides of the conflict.” This is not clear to me. I don’t quite understand how we can pressure Ukraine. For example, by stopping support – both military and humanitarian. I don’t quite understand how we can pressure Russia? It’s clear that Russia has nuclear weapons, but this was clear back in 1994 when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees. And this is a big question for me. Because we talked a lot about the need to stop the spread of nuclear weapons in the world. We very much want the club of nuclear countries to remain unchanged, not to grow larger. For example, we are negotiating with Iran about rolling back their nuclear program. Yes, Iran is evil. But what can we offer Iran so that they don’t create their nuclear weapons. For them and for other countries in the world who are thinking about this, there is a signal that if a nuclear country attacks you, no one will help you.
These are the messages we’re sending to the world
On the other hand, when it comes to peace, we perfectly understand that Ukraine must remain a sovereign state. With the right to enter into any alliances – economic, military, etc. Let’s fantasize, if we let Ukraine lose now, these people who are fighting now for values, not only for their land but also to become part of the Western world will feel betrayed and this cannot be hidden and say – Ukrainians always wanted to live together with Russians. No, they didn’t want to – Ukrainians have been waging this terrible war for three years, trying to resist the invaders.
Next in Europe, who will face Russia will be the Baltic countries, Poland. And this will mean a threat to our direct allies already. Perhaps Putin won’t attack them militarily, but people who will say that relations with Russia need to be normalized will win in elections. We could lose Europe.
And here is another question – does America need a Strong Europe or a Europe enslaved by Russia. But the answer is of course up to our administration.
You know, I read a little about the First and Second World Wars. Then the United States also tried to abandon Europe and let Europe solve its problems alone. What did we get then – two big world wars in which America still had to participate. Won’t it be the same this time? What I know is this is how it has been for the last three years. But what will happen next – I don’t know.
Therefore, when we talk about peace, I clearly understand that Ukraine must remain an independent state, that Ukraine must remain our ally. And it doesn’t matter how this will be. We will give it security guarantees – such as we gave to South Korea and Israel, or Ukraine will join NATO.
A strong Ukraine is in America’s direct interest in confronting Russia. This is obvious. If, of course, America wants to confront Russia, and not to do business with it as usual.
You know, everything we’re discussing now is a question of HOW NOT to betray Ukraine? America is a Christian country. And the Bible says a lot about betrayal. This question is simply philosophical. Can America live if it commits the sin of Judas against Ukraine?
Corruption in Ukraine
Corruption as a phenomenon exists in every country. Ukraine is surely no exception, and we see plenty of journalistic investigations about this in Ukraine; This speaks to the level of democracy in the country and the fight against existing evil.
This is all we see on internet resources. But I have been to Ukraine personally, Ukrainians don’t look like a nation, that has sold everything. I saw people who, with practically no resources, stopped Putin’s enormous army. They are fighting and in some ways winning against it.
But injustice exists. Extremely injustice at the top official level. It’s true. And Ukrainians see it. And when Americans discuss the level of corruption in Ukraine it must be clearly addressed! Ukrainians will be grateful to us for helping them overcome corruption at the highest level. But ordinary Ukrainians can’t be left with no aid and support.
If the USA wants it could find the ways how to cut corruption lines and to strength support on the individual levels. And of course, charity funds operation support in Ukraine is one of the key solutions as funds work at the basic level with people, not with officials, that could wish to corrupt any good wills.
I would strongly recommend to focus US efforts on “supporting Ukrainians”, not Ukraine’s officials, not Ukaine’s ministry of Defence, not Ukraine’s current of future presidents. Ukrainians are nationality and strength holders. If they will be strong, they will find the ways to make their country stronger and defeat Russia, and only then the peace will come.
But of course, you can see better from the USA what level of corruption exists in Ukraine. I recommend you go and see it personally.
It also worth to mention the following:
– Failing to support Ukraine could embolden traditional US opponents with territorial ambitions, and the world could escalate into widespread conflict, posing a severe threat to global stability, including that of the U.S.
– If Russia emerges victorious, it would bolster the narrative of Western decline, undermining confidence in U.S. commitments among European and Asian allies and empowering adversaries
– A loss in Ukraine would necessitate a more prolonged and costly effort for NATO’s deterrence, distracting the U.S. from maintaining a strategic balance in Asia
– Ukraine’s defeat could lead to an increase in nuclear-armed countries, as in face of danger more and more states would try to elaborate nuclear strategies for their defense
– Support for Ukraine has galvanized unity among NATO allies, spurring greater commitment to defense just as tensions with China escalate
– Ukraine has become a pivotal arena for testing advanced weapons and information systems, including those from the U.S.
– Despite the impressive quantity and variety of equipment provided to Ukraine, the U.S. has largely supplied items that have minimal impact on its own security
– The military aid the U.S. is providing to Ukraine does not compromise its readiness to defend Taiwan
– Supporting Ukraine indirectly bolsters Israel’s defense against Iran
– If Ukraine succumbs to Russia, it would result in Russia gaining control over Ukraine’s vast natural resources, significantly boosting its wealth and influence
– Securing a victory against Putin in Ukraine would significantly weaken the emerging alliance between China and Russia
– Russia harms the interests of the United States in many regions and the war against Ukraine undermines Russia’s capacity in such areas
– The failure of Ukraine would further destabilize the European market, a major economic partner of the U.S., impacting the stability and effectiveness of transatlantic trade relations
– United States has experienced economic gains and emerging investment opportunities, particularly in the energy sector and in the reconstruction efforts of Ukraine
– Support for Ukraine revitalized the U.S. defense industry and provided new jobs nationwide
– A significant portion of the U.S. military funding, while allocated for Ukraine, is ultimately utilized for enhancing the security of the U.S. In July 2023, of the $43.7 billion total allocated for Ukraine after the invasion, more than $26 billion were designated for restocking U.S. supplies.
– If Ukraine succumbs, a substantial flow of migrants is likely, as many Ukrainians would resist living under Russian rule
– Russian military forces have damaged and destroyed religious buildings and other sites and killed or injured those sheltering or worshiping in these places, while some religious leaders were abducted and tortured
– Since 2016, Russian authorities have used broad provisions of the Yarovaya Act to prosecute American Baptist and Pentecostal missionaries operating in Russia, ban most Mormon missionary activities, and burn Bibles distributed abroad that are not properly registered with the state. Russia’s Yarovaya Law does not recognize Protestantism as a “traditional religion” and imposes regulations on its practice.
Tags: Kelsie Kimberlin russia ukraine war Ukraine US aid USA
