That citizens and politicians of the United States and allied countries are talking about "war fatigue" should not please the Ukrainians. But the complaint exists, and, with ups and downs, it grows as the conflict drags on and support for the invaded nation demands more and more economic effort and solidarity from the West. Joe Biden's coup d'état with his surprise visit to Kyiv may momentarily lift spirits in the Allied rear, just as Volodimir Zelensky's visit to Washington did in December. But the general fatigue continues to advance, especially when inflation and other economic problems are associated with support for Ukraine, and the counterattacks against the calls to lower their arms and force a negotiation seem increasingly necessary. The battle on the public opinion front does not cease.
According to a survey released last week by the AP agency and the NORC polling institute of the University of Chicago, the percentage of Americans in favor of continuing to send weapons to Ukraine has fallen to 48% (January data), from 60% in May of 2022.
The decline is much more pronounced in the Republican camp. According to a CBS News poll with the market research company YouGov – also from January – 52% of Republican voters now want their representatives in Congress to oppose increasing funding for Ukraine, compared to only 19% of democrats who want the same. Already in December, a CivicScience study indicated that Republican support for military aid to the country attacked by the Russians had dropped to 53%, from 75% in the previous month of March.
It is not in vain that the eleven most ultra-trumpist parliamentarians of that party in the Capitol, always aware of the mood swings that they themselves stir up in the most conservative sector of the country, presented on February 9 a resolution proposal dubbed the Fatigue of Ukraine . The group, led by the extremist Matt Gaetz, bets on it to "end military and financial aid to Ukraine and urge all combatants to reach a peace agreement."
Since Washington's support for Kyiv excludes the direct intervention of US troops in the war, to focus on the sanctions of economic suffocation against Russia and, above all, on military and humanitarian support for the country, the motivation of the supposed fatigue of the people is dollar figure. And so far the US has launched four large aid packages to Ukraine totaling $113 billion – a total “drain on taxpayers”, according to radical but influential turn-off Republicans.
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, said before being elected after the November legislative elections that the electorate was not willing to give "a blank check" to the invaders. But then he lowered his tone. And the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, assured on Friday at the Munich Security Conference that both he and the rest of the leaders of the formation, McCarthy included, are "committed to helping Ukraine." McConnell added that the staff of his formation "overwhelmingly support a robust NATO." In this way, he alluded to Biden's other great challenge after the first year of a contest that is still expected to be long: maintaining unity between allies, which has been put at risk more than once in relation to the shipment of certain weapons and with the purchase of hydrocarbons from Russia.
It is no coincidence that the president of the United States dedicated one of the climactic phrases of his speech yesterday in Poland to these challenges: “There should be no doubt; our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not divide and we will not get tired.”
This is what the Ukrainians expect: the only ones who can truly feel fatigued.
