Biden signs unpopular $40B aid bill for Ukraine… But Zelenksyy talks ceding territory

As Biden signs the unaffordable and unpopular $40 billion aid bill to Ukraine, which has no oversight on how it will be spent but which is intended to be used largely to support Ukrainian military and intelligence operations, Zelenskyy starts talking diplomacy and hinting at ceding territory.

The bill, which brings our total contributing to Ukraine since the start of the war up to a startling $54 billion which could have been used to alleviate our many economic problems here at home–unemployment, inflation, soaring gas prices, baby formula shortages, et.–includes $20billion in military and and intelligence assistance. However, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy is finally starting to seriously consider non-military options to end the war.

From the New York Post:

Zelensky[sic] indicated he might be willing to cede some of eastern Ukraine to Russia to spare the population.

“I believe that no matter what appetite different sections of our population have, the most valuable thing is to save more people, soldiers,” Zelensky said at a news briefing Saturday.

The conflict “will be bloody, there will be fighting, but it will only definitively end through diplomacy,” Zelensky said.

“No one just gives anything away, but there is land that they entered and occupied, and there are some areas where they have advanced very far in.”

With the fall of Mariupol 2,600 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered. Zelenskyy has stated that his primary goal in ending the conflict involves saving as many soldiers’ lives as possible.

While it is obvious that this is not Ukraine’s preferred outcome, it is also clear from their President’s words that they are contemplating ending the war swiftly through diplomacy which may include ceding land to the invading Russia.

The separatist regions in Eastern Ukraine, and the Russian occupied Crimean peninsula are likely contenders.

However, all of this begs the question–if the war is going to end without a ramp up in Ukrainian military resistance, what did we just spend $20+ billion on?

Not only could that money have been used to help Americans here at home, but it seems as though it will be entirely wasted in Ukraine–likely it won’t even be spent on the war effort if Zelenskyy is serious.

Senator Rand Paul was right–we never should have sent them anything.