Democrats push for Ukraine peace deal

Cracks are emerging in congressional support for Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine after a group of 30 far-left Dems urged peace negotiations with Russia.

Democrat reps Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks with Representative Cori Bush (D-MO) in Washington DC.

Cracks are emerging in congressional support for Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine after a group of 30 far-left Democrats urged the President to “redouble efforts” to encourage peace negotiations with Russia, one week after a top Republican suggested he might throttle US funding for the war if his party wins control of congress.

The Democrat group, including “Squad” firebrands Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush, urged the Biden administration to encourage a settlement to avoid the “catastrophic risk” of nuclear war and military escalation, noting the “expenditure of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars” Ukraine had received so far.

“If there is a way to end the war while preserving a free and independent Ukraine, it is America’s responsibility to pursue every diplomatic avenue to support such a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine,” they said.

“A war that is allowed to grind on for years – potentially escalating in intensity and geographic scope – threatens to displace, kill, and immiserate far more Ukrain­ians while causing hunger, poverty, and death around the world.”

The comments were a marked deviation from the Biden administration’s formal position that the US would support Ukraine for as long as Kyiv wanted economic, humanitarian and military aid to fend of Russia’s invasion, now in its eighth month. White House military affairs spokesman John Kirby, in a press briefing on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) after the letter emerged, said the Biden administration “appreciate[d] their very thoughtful concerns” but stressed it was wholly up to Ukraine to seek peace or not.

The potential disagreement among top Democrats came as Moscow wrote to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, warning of its concerns that Ukraine was poised to detonate a “dirty bomb”, a claim dismissed earlier by the US, France and the UK following separate appeals to them by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. “We call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to do everything in his power to prevent this heinous crime from happening,” the letter from Moscow to the UN said, stating any use would be “seen as an act of nuclear terrorism”.

The war in Ukraine, which has gone disastrously for Russian forces in recent months, has slowed down in recent weeks as winter approaches, with both sides ­attempting to fortify their ­defences and future negotiating positions in any settlement.

Almost 60 per cent of voters support the US continuing to supply weapons to Ukraine, although a little over half said the Biden ­administration’s support was ­increasing the chance of global nuclear war, according to a Harvard University-Harris poll published earlier this month.

Prominent Republican Liz Cheney on Sunday blasted House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who last week said Republicans would not provide a “blank cheque” to the administration to support Ukraine.

“This is incredibly damaging to America’s standing in the world, it’s damaging to the effort Ukrainians are in,” said Ms Cheney, speaking on TV.

Since January 2021, the US has spent more than $US18bn on weapons to support Ukraine, ­according to the State Department, including a wide array of missiles and air defence systems, stopping short of aircraft. “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. It’s their territory. I’m not going to tell them what they should and shouldn’t do,” Mr Biden said in June.