Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko urged the U.S. and European nations to stand with his country against Russian aggression in a speech to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress today in Washington.

“Our nation decided to be free and democratic,” Poroshenko said in Washington to strong applause from lawmakers. “Another nation decided to punish Ukraine for this. The world simply cannot allow this kind of behavior.”

He called Russia’s annexation of Crimea one of the “most cynical acts of treachery in the modern history” and warned that Russia may next seek to cross European borders.

Poroshenko spoke to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives just days after the U.S. and European Union toughened their sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukrainian territory. Later today, Poroshenko is scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House.

“The United States made a commitment that it will stand behind Ukraine’s territorial integrity and we hope it will live up to that promise,” Poroshenko said.

Ukraine’s troops “need more political support throughout the world, they need more military equipment, both lethal and non-lethal, urgently needed,” he said. “In Ukraine you don’t build a democracy; it already exists. You just defend it.”

The Obama administration announced today that it will send additional assistance to Ukraine including $46 million in non-lethal military equipment, such as body armor, first-aid kits, binoculars, and other surveillance gear, plus about $7 million in humanitarian aid for people displaced by the Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine.

David Fuller's view

I heard part of this speech as it was delivered and caught the rest in the Audio above. It is intelligent, articulate and more detailed than this article can convey.  It was also very well received by Congress.  Poroshenko is a credible statesman who knows his history, quoting the US Revolutionary War Cry: “Live free or die.” That is what Ukrainians are saying today, he added, in asking for significant military weapons.  He thanked the USA for aid, including blankets, but said you cannot win a war with these.  Sure, Russia would still be much stronger than Ukraine, but if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine he will bring back more of the past, Poroshenko added.  I agree.  The West needs to stop Putin by supporting Ukraine, while persevering with the sanctions imposed by the US, EU, Canada, Australia and Japan.  Putin will not be deterred unless Russia faces a heavy price for its efforts to absorb Ukraine.   

I doubt that Putin is ready to back down, although I obviously hope he is.  Meanwhile, increased aid for Ukraine and tough sanctions will hurt Russia’s weak economy more than the countries imposing them.  Effective measures will also be cheap at the price because Russia’s kleptocrat economy was already vulnerable before the recent decline in Brent Crude oil. 

Renewed aggression by Putin will remain a headwind for European markets, as you can see from this chart of Germany.  It fell by over 10% in July and early August, when Russia dominated the European news, before recovering more recently with the help of the ECB’s accommodative monetary policies and as Putin temporarily went to ground.

See also: Poroshenko thanks Canada for help during Ukraine ‘fight for our independence’, posted on the 17^th by Toronto Sun.