“U.S. should immediately end arms shipments to Ukraine” demand socialist presidential candidates

Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia, presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, criticize Zelensky’s visit to Washington and oppose another massive spending package to finance the proxy war against Russia

Socialist presidential candidate Claudia De la Cruz and her running mate Karina Garcia spoke out against plans by the Biden administration to spend an additional $24 billion on the war in Ukraine – the main purpose of President Zelensky’s visit to Washington today. 

De la Cruz said that, “Since the war began, the U.S. government has sent over $100 billion to Ukraine – and today President Zelensky is visiting Biden at the White House to ask for another $24 billion! Instead of going to weapons manufacturers, that could and should have been used to provide healthcare and housing for working class families, repair infrastructure, and address the climate crisis. Should we really have to pay all this money just so the Pentagon generals and corporate war profiteers can keep the fighting going? The U.S. government should immediately end arms shipments to Ukraine.” She also rejected the rationale cited by pro-war politicians, “The political elites tell us that Russia is a grave threat to the world, that Putin is the next Hitler. But in reality, NATO set the stage for this war by breaking its promises and expanding right up to Russia’s border, then refusing to negotiate over any security concerns.”

Karina Garcia dismissed the idea that the U.S. policy is motivated by humanitarian concern for Ukrainians, “If the Biden administration actually cared about Ukrainians, they would support peace talks to bring the war to an end. But instead they’re pushing for the war to go on indefinitely, cynically thinking that this will help them weaken Russia and achieve other goals. In fact, we’re now hearing complaints about how Ukrainians have become ‘casualty averse’ in the war – that they don’t want to die in the huge numbers that the Pentagon generals demand.”

Claudia De la Cruz emphasized that this is another war started by the rich but fought by the poor, “If Russia is such a threat, instead of sending their kids to Harvard and Yale, why don’t these politicians send them to the front lines in Ukraine? If this war is so important to them, then instead of giving their kids a Mercedes or a Wall Street internship, these politicians should give them a helmet and a gun and send them off to Ukraine to fight! They won’t. But they’re perfectly happy to arm Ukranians and send them to fight the U.S. ruling class’s war against Russia – so long as it lines their pocketbooks.”