In this essay for The Atlantic, Elliot Ackerman and Karl Marlantes examine America’s strategy in Ukraine after traveling to the country with a bipartisan congressional delegation.
Both Marine Corps veterans, Ackerman and Marlantes argue that U.S. support has given Ukraine enough military aid to avoid defeat, but not enough to win.
Ukraine’s War of Survival
The essay draws on visits to Kyiv, Kharkiv, and the front lines, where the authors met Ukrainian soldiers, medics, and drone operators confronting the brutality of Russia’s invasion.
Drones, Innovation, and Delay
Ackerman and Marlantes describe how Ukrainian forces are rapidly adapting with low-cost drones while U.S. and NATO defense industries struggle to keep pace with the speed of battlefield innovation.
The Cost of Half Measures
At its center, the essay warns that delayed aid, restrictive policies, and insufficient weapons deliveries risk turning Western support into a strategy of slow attrition rather than victory.