A Nation Tested by War and a Call for American Leadership
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has now entered its fourth year. What began as an unprovoked act of aggression has become a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe: more than 19,000 Ukrainian children abducted, millions displaced, and civilian infrastructure targeted in daily attacks.
This conflict is not just Ukraine’s fight. It is a test of whether the world’s democracies, led by the United States and our European allies, will stand firm against terror and tyranny, or allow impunity to take root.
That’s why With Honor Action is proud to endorse H.R. 5797 / S. 2978 — the Designating the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act.
Introduced by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Sen. Lindsey Graham, with cosponsors from both parties in both chambers, the legislation would require the Secretary of State to designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism unless it returns the thousands of abducted Ukrainian children.
“Russia’s brutal invasion has torn tens of thousands of Ukrainian children from their families; abducted, orphaned, or forced to flee their homes. These are not acts of war; they are acts of terror,” said With Honor Co-Founder & CEO Rye Barcott. “With Honor Action endorses this bipartisan legislation that finally names the Russian Federation for what it is — a state sponsor of terrorism — and gives the United States new tools to hold Putin’s regime accountable for these unconscionable crimes against humanity.”
Holding Russia Accountable: Sanctions with Purpose
The United States has expanded sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, blacklisting two of its largest oil companies and dozens of associates. These new sanctions are designed to cut off the Kremlin’s war revenues and send a clear message: America will not bankroll aggression.
But sanctions alone are not enough. History shows they work best when paired with strategic resolve — including legislative action, diplomatic alignment, and domestic readiness.
While sanctions weaken Russia’s economy, Ukraine’s battlefield success has come from something sanctions cannot stop — innovation. The next front in this conflict isn’t only economic but technological – fast-moving, adaptive, and defined by creativity under fire.
Innovation Forged on the Front Lines: Lessons from Ukraine
At the 2025 Association of the U.S. Army conference, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll delivered a simple but transformative message:
“Move fast. Break procurement.”
Ukraine’s experience has proven that victory depends on agility. As Secretary Driscoll stated:
“If you look at Ukraine, they’re updating their software on their drones every two weeks. We as a nation would have struggled to do it within two years. We’re having to retrain the entire Pentagon that the bigger threat is inaction rather than fast action — with a little bit of scrappiness required.”
That “scrappiness” has become the hallmark of Ukrainian defense.
According to the Snake Island Institute’s report, The Black Sea’s Asymmetric Blueprint, Ukraine has:
- Employed unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and integrated them with aerial drones and precision fires, despite starting with no functioning naval fleet.
- Achieved decisive engagements, including the destruction of multiple Russian vessels such as the Ivanovets missile corvette (Jan 2024) and the Caesar Kunikov landing ship (Feb 2024) via coordinated USV strikes.
- Established an industry-military feedback loop: platforms such as “Sea Baby” and “MAGURA V5” were refined through continuous frontline feedback, showing combat-driven R&D cycles measured in months rather than years.
- Demonstrated favorable cost-exchange ratios: relatively low-cost unmanned assets inflicted outsized damage on complex, high-value Russian vessels, such as the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian guided missile cruiser and the flagship of the Black Sea fleet.
The implication for the future of U.S. defense posture:
- Modern littoral operations don’t necessarily require large capital ships; distributed, unmanned systems can achieve sea denial.
- Naval doctrine must shift: Unmanned, distributed, and attritable systems should transition from supporting to foundational capabilities.
- The U.S. force design must incorporate faster innovation cycles, industry-military feedback loops, and break rigid procurement timelines.
Ukraine’s ability to adapt on the fly reveals a truth the U.S. military is rediscovering: readiness depends on flexibility, not just funding. That same spirit of self-reliance is now driving a new effort here at home to ensure America’s warfighters can keep their equipment and themselves mission-ready.
Fix, Fight, Win: The Case for the Warrior Right to Repair
Inspired in part by Ukraine’s battlefield adaptability, For Country Caucus members Representatives Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA) have introduced the “Warrior Right to Repair Act” – bipartisan legislation ensuring American service members can repair and maintain their own equipment in the field.
This reform would:
- Cut repair times by allowing troops to fix critical systems on-site.
- Strengthen supply chains by reducing reliance on single-source foreign components, particularly from China.
- Build resilience by ensuring America’s forces and its allies can operate independently under pressure.
- As Ukraine’s front-line experience shows, modern warfare rewards speed, creativity, and self-sufficiency.
Empowering troops to repair what they fight with is only one side of the readiness equation. The other is ensuring these tools, and the parts behind them, come from secure, reliable sources, not from adversaries or fragile supply chains.
Vulnerable Links: Why Supply Chains Are a National Security Issue
Russia’s invasion exposed a deeper, global vulnerability: the fragility of Western defense supply chains. The Snake Island Institute’s recent report on supply chain analysis highlights some key vulnerabilities in our global supply chain:
- Ukraine’s unmanned aerial systems (UAS) production remains highly dependent on Chinese-produced components, including motors, flight controllers, lithium-ion batteries, navigation systems, and thermal sensors.
- Nearly 97% of Ukrainian manufacturers identified China as a primary source of imports; in the first half of 2024, roughly 89% of UAS-related imports by value were still sourced from China.
- While Ukraine has begun to develop domestic manufacturing capabilities, key components such as rare-earth magnets, advanced machining tools, and specialized optics still depend on foreign supply and remain vulnerable.
- China’s control over drone/component supply chains means it holds a potential lever over not just Ukraine’s war effort, but the broader Western defense industrial base.
For the U.S., the implication is clear:
- We must diversify and secure defense supply chains, invest in domestic production of critical components (motors, sensors, controllers, batteries).
- We need to lessen our reliance on adversarial supply chains—particularly those tied to China—by leveraging incentives, strengthening public-private partnerships, and deepening industrial cooperation with our allies.
- We must treat industrial-base readiness as a national-security imperative, not simply a procurement line item.
Securing America’s industrial base will take deliberate investment, strategic cooperation, and legislative resolve. The good news is that the roadmap already exists — if we have the will to act on it.
Meeting the Moment: A Roadmap for Action
Ukraine’s struggle offers both a warning and a blueprint for others. Supporting its fight for freedom is about learning—and acting—now.
The steps ahead are clear:
- Pass the Designating the Russian Federation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act (H.R. 5797 / S. 2978) to officially designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
- Pass the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 (H.R. 2548 / S. 1241) to apply additional and secondary economic sanctions on Russia.
- Expand and enforce sanctions on Russian state-owned enterprises and energy sectors.
- Reshore and secure U.S. defense supply chains to eliminate dependencies on adversarial nations by passing the Critical Minerals Partnership Act (H.R. 4391 / S. 2550).
- Maintain bipartisan unity on sanctions, humanitarian aid, and deterrence.
These measures are more than policy proposals; they are a test of leadership and principle. What’s at stake is far greater than any single piece of legislation — it’s the measure of who we are as a nation.
Why It Matters for America
When a regime kidnaps children, targets hospitals, and silences dissent, the response cannot be partial. It must be principled, bipartisan, and strong.
But just as important, this is a wake-up call at home. Our own readiness — technological, industrial, and moral — will determine whether the U.S. can meet future crises with confidence. Ukraine’s courage shows what happens when innovation meets necessity. America must meet this moment with the same determination.
Standing with Ukraine is about more than foreign policy; it’s about affirming the values that define American strength. The time for speeches has passed; the time for action is here.
Turning Resolve into Results
The world is watching. Congress is acting. The White House is weighing its next move.
The question is not whether the U.S. will respond, but whether we will lead.
Designate Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Enforce and expand sanctions. Empower our warfighters. Secure our industrial base.
That’s what American leadership looks like.