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President Trump has made great strides in tearing down the Obama legacy, and it appears he’s now about to reverse course on one more decision by Obama. The Trump administration is planning on sending lethal defensive weaponry to Ukraine, an escalation in America’s aid to Ukraine that the Obama administration wasn’t willing to make. This is one place where Trump should refrain from overturning Obama’s policy.
Sending lethal equipment to the Ukrainians could lead to American made weapons killing Russians directly. It’s not hard to imagine the Russians retaliating by escalating in another arena, and the situation only getting worse from there.
Felicia Schwartz writes in the Wall Street Journal:
After the start of conflict in 2014, the White House considered sending lethal defensive weapons, but President Barack Obama decided against doing so
Lethal arms also have been resisted by officials in Germany and France, concerned that the move would increase tensions and deepen the conflict.
But U.S. officials previously have told The Wall Street Journal that they expect some allies—including the U.K., Canada, Poland and Lithuania—to be open to an increase in military support.
Kurt Volker, the U.S. envoy for Ukraine, has told European officials that the Trump administration sees a narrow window for progress in Ukraine before Russia’s presidential elections, due in March 2018, but that a change in the situation can only be brought about by increasing Moscow’s costs for continued intervention in Ukraine.
Russian officials have long denied supporting separatists and have criticized Western efforts to train the Ukrainian military.
Read more here.
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