Toqueville Fellows Blog, Featuring Li Ward: America’s Role in Ukraine: A Student Perspective on Liberty, Leadership, and the Free World

A student perspective on U.S. support for Ukraine and global democratic values

Li Ward
Columbia, SC | Class of 2025
Politics and International Affairs, German Major | Middle East and Islamic Studies Minor

Li Ward is a senior at Furman University from Columbia, South Carolina, majoring in Politics and International Affairs and German, with a minor in Middle East and Islamic Studies. With a strong interest in global diplomacy, cross-cultural engagement, and international security, Li brings a thoughtful, interdisciplinary approach to the study of world affairs. His piece explores the intersection of language, politics, and regional identity in shaping international relationships.

Defending Liberty in the Face of Tyranny

When a free people are threatened with subjugation and humiliation, they fight back. This is the nature of the Russo-Ukrainian War. It is a war of survival, not just for Ukraine, but for the ideals of the free world: sovereignty, self-determination, the rule of law, and liberal democratic values.

The Ukrainian people did not ask for this war. They had a war foisted upon them by a despot desiring to resurrect a dead empire – dead for good reason. And yet, they have stared down what was once considered the second most powerful land fighting force on the face of the Earth, and they have fought like lions for every inch of their soil. They have stood tall, and America must continue to stand with them.

The Lessons of History: Dictators and the Repetition of Evil

When I heard Dr. Sergey Radchenko speak at March’s Tocqueville event, I was struck by the clarity and depth of his historical understanding. History is not neutral, and its darkest chapters do not remain buried—the evils of the past can and will reassert themselves if we do not remain vigilant. The script is all too familiar: a dictator lays claim to a neighbor on the basis of ethnicity, history, or whatever excuse suits his ambition; the great powers warn, delay, protest; the dictator ignores them, devours the weaker state, and grows bolder.

We saw this unfold nearly a century ago in 1938, when appeasement bought only more aggression. Evil triumphed—for a time—because those with the means to stop it lacked the will. Today, we see history’s shadows rising again. And up until recently, America had done a commendable job supporting those who resist them. But we cannot allow our resolve to falter now—not when the stakes are rising, and not when Ukraine needs support more than ever.

Ukraine’s Resistance and the Stakes for the Free World

The Ukrainians have been fighting well, holding the Russians back from Kharkov since the beginning of hostilities, driving them back from Kiev and to the right bank of the Dnieper in Kherson. They fought bitterly for Mariupol, Bakhmut, and Avdiivka—losing ground, yes, but bleeding the enemy and holding firm, in no small part thanks to American support.

America’s continued support is not charity. It is not “hundreds of billions” funneled into a foreign conflict with no bearing on our lives. It is the strategic provision of arms and materiel—much of it already paid for and collecting dusts in depots from South Dakota to South Carolina—for the preservation of liberty in one of our most critical geopolitical theaters. It is a small price to pay to hinder tyranny and grind down the military capability of a dangerous adversary without shedding a single drop of American blood.

Every shell, every tank, every rocket and every rifle delays Putin’s goals and defends our values. And if we abandon Ukraine now, we don’t just risk losing a partner—we risk emboldening every dictator with dreams of conquest. Beijing watches. Tehran watches. Pyongyang watches.

The Consequences of Abandoning Ukraine

A Russian victory, no matter how limited, sends a message to every aspiring despot that the West’s moral fortitude is fraying, that our word is not our bond, and that liberty can be crushed through force of arms without major consequence. It sends a message that atrocities like the Bucha massacre will go unpunished. If Ukraine falls, the very order our forefathers bled to establish in Europe will come under threat. Abandoning Kiev would be a surrender of our credibility.

We must not be lulled by the honeyed words of primetime pundits. We must not give in to cynicism and fatigue, those lesser angels of our nature. We must help the Ukrainians fight their fight – for it is in many ways our own. It is our duty, as the heirs to the greatest republic the world has ever known.

A Call to Leadership: This Is Not a Partisan Issue

This should not be a partisan issue – it is a very clear-cut matter of standing up for our most sacred national principles. America does not flinch. We do not blink. We do not shy away from our foes. We lead, and we help those fighting the good fight see it through – until liberty prevails.

American power still means something. It’s time we act like it.