Influence of elections or coercion to negotiations: Why American aid for Ukraine is stalled

According to the “canonical” version by Biden (which has become widely accepted in Western media), Republicans are blocking aid at Trump’s insistence, by putting forth unacceptable conditions for Democrats regarding illegal migration resolutions and rejecting compromises offered by the DemParty.

Various versions are proposed to explain Trump’s motives—from wanting to leverage the border issue in his reelection campaign to some sort of collusion with Putin.

Ultimately, Trump and the Republicans are accused of jeopardizing Ukraine and other US allies due to their domestic intrigues.

However, even in this version, there’s a counter-question to Biden and the Democrats. If helping Ukraine is so important to them, why don’t they themselves compromise with Republicans on tightening immigration control, which would unlock support for Kiev?

Recall that according to the prevalent view among Biden’s opponents, Democrats deliberately cater to the influx of illegal migrants into the US to expand their electoral base.

By supporting Republican proposals to strengthen border control, Biden would kill two birds with one stone: discrediting these accusations and aiding Ukraine. But the White House refrains from such a move, offering only half-measures on migration that are unacceptable to most Republicans, whose voters (and a significant portion of Democratic voters) demand tough measures against illegal immigrants.

In this scenario, it appears that Biden also prioritizes his domestic agenda over helping Ukraine. Alternatively, as a conspiracy theory popular in Kiev suggests, the White House deliberately blocks aid to Ukraine by refusing real concessions to Republicans on the border, in order to compel Ukrainian authorities to negotiate with Putin to end the war. Yet, it frames the delay in aid to Ukraine as Trump and the Republicans’ fault.

Recall that Putin recently stated that Biden is more acceptable for Russia as US president than Trump.

Many interpreted this as a kind of trolling by Putin towards Biden or an attempt to support Trump.

But who knows, perhaps in this case, Putin was speaking quite seriously.