Laura Cooper

On July 25 a member of my staff got a question from a Ukrainian Embassy contact asking what was going on with U.S. security assistance.

All of the senior leaders of the U.S. national security departments and agencies were all unified in their - in their view that this assistance was essential.

In that meeting, he did mention something to me that, you know, was the first about, somehow, an effort that he was engaged in to see if there was a statement that the government of Ukraine would make that would somehow disavow any interference in U.S. elections and would commit to the prosecution of any individuals involved in election interference, and, that was about as specific as it got.

I mean, so DOD was concerned about the obligation of funds, policy, my team, Defense Department officials were also concerned about any signal that Defense Department officials would send to Ukraine about a wavering in Defense Department officials commitment.... They are trying to negotiate a peace with Russia, and if they are seen as weak, and if they are seen to lack the backing of the United States for their Armed Forces, it makes it much more difficult for them to negotiate a peace on terms that are good for Ukraine.

Ukraine, and also Georgia, are the two front-line states facing Russian aggression, in order to deter further Russian aggression, we need to be able to shore up these countries abilities to defend themselves.Thats, I think, pure and simple, the rationale behind our strategy of supporting these countries.Its in our interest to deter Russian aggression elsewhere around the world.