“Russia must be so weakened that it cannot carry out military aggressions like in Ukraine anywhere again”.
This is what US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a Polish warehouse after returning from a visit to Kyiv with his colleague Antony Blinken.
Before this press conference, amid well-packaged aid supplies for Ukraine, the USA had made a significant commitment and sent weapons and valuable secret service support to the country attacked by Russia.
“This is basically the test case for what Joe Biden said during the election campaign: I want to strengthen the western alliance, I want to strengthen NATO.
Donald Trump did that before him, tried to blow everything up," observes Roland Nelles, longtime SPIEGEL correspondent in Washington.
»Biden promised during the election campaign that he basically wants to go back to this old logic, that the USA together with its allies enforce democracy in the world and also the values for which the USA and the West stand.
And he's basically keeping his promise now."
At the moment, the US President can count on a stable majority in the Senate when it comes to aid for Ukraine.
But the trench warfare between Republicans and Democrats is still raging in Congress.
And during the “midterms”, the American elections halfway through each presidency, Joe Biden's actions in the Ukraine crisis and the government's attitude towards the Russian aggressor will also be evaluated.
So far, there have been no direct declarations of war on Russia from the US side.
Rather, it was always emphasized that the only thing at stake was the end of the Russian invasion.
The fear of being seen as a direct Russian opponent and thus verbally creating a conflict that had to be avoided was too great.
»American politics is of course very sensitive.
You know exactly what the dangers are and of course you don't want to be drawn into a war with Russia," says Roland Nelles. "Joe Biden acts accordingly.
For example, he never comments on all that Russia's saber-rattling when it comes to nuclear weapons.
The Americans always let that roll off their feet, because they just don't want to enter into a rhetorical race with the Russians, which might actually lead to a heated conflict in the end."
That could change now, because the defense minister's statement that Russia must be significantly weakened can be understood as an escalation in the relationship between the two former superpowers.
And losing the president's hitherto solid support in the Senate, where even Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell advocates arms sales to Ukraine.
The stakes are high for Joe Biden.
Even more so for the fragile structure between defenders, their allies and the Russian aggressors.
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