It can stop telegraphing to Putin what we are not going to do. Giving Putin every reason to believe that the United States is more afraid of him than he is of us provides him with additional incentives to ratchet up tensions and behave worse.
It can do everything short of war to prevent the fall of Kyiv, including by establishing a humanitarian air corridor to keep the city from being starved and frozen into surrender. Like Leningrad in World War II or Berlin in 1948, the Ukrainian capital has become a potent symbol of defiance. Every day it doesn’t fall, Putin loses the perception of his invincibility.
It can persuade Congress to fund covert efforts to support a long-term insurgency throughout Ukraine. The thought of thousands of sniper rifles and antitank missiles in the hands of Ukrainian partisans should keep Russian commanders awake at night.
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