[ti:What Can the US Do to Help Ukraine?] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.88]United States President Joe Biden [00:04.84]says he will not send troops to Ukraine if Russian soldiers invade. [00:11.60]The U.S. has no responsibility to support Ukraine. [00:16.20]But doing little to help the former Soviet Union nation has risks, too. [00:23.92]Experts say that if the U.S. does not push back, [00:27.84]it could hurt the stability of eastern Europe. [00:32.24]Russia could consider moves against other countries [00:35.24]like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. [00:39.80]Those nations, however, have the support [00:42.76]of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. [00:47.60]U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Europe this week [00:52.56]for meetings with Ukrainian officials and NATO allies. [00:57.88]He also plans to meet with Russia's foreign minister. [01:02.04]Blinken has said the U.S. supports Ukraine's independence [01:07.76]and right to defend its territory. [01:11.80]He has not explained how the U.S. would respond to a Russian invasion. [01:18.00]President Joe Biden said earlier this week that he "guessed" Putin [01:22.56]will send fighters into Ukraine, but it might not be a full war. [01:28.32]In the past, Biden said he would not send the U.S. military [01:32.84]into Ukraine to help fight Russia. [01:36.72]On Thursday, however, he added Russia will "pay a heavy price" [01:42.08]if it starts a war with Ukraine. [01:45.72]Russia responded by saying it is not planning an invasion. [01:51.16]It accused the U.S. and other nations of "provoking" Russia [01:56.20]by sending weapons and supplies to the area. [02:00.76]Russia has said it does not want NATO to expand further east. [02:06.60]The U.S. has rejected that demand. [02:10.12]There is already fighting between Russia and Ukraine [02:14.24]on the Crimean Peninsula. [02:17.56]More than 14,000 people have died over eight years of fighting. [02:24.04]In Washington, both Republicans and Democrats [02:27.56]are urging Biden and Blinken to do more. [02:31.96]Congressman Jim Hines of Connecticut, a Democrat, [02:36.24]said the U.S. should be sending more supplies [02:39.56]and military trainers into Ukraine to help. [02:44.28]Philip Breedlove is a former general in the U.S. Air Force [02:48.64]and was the top NATO military leader in Europe from 2013 to 2016. [02:56.56]He said if Putin invades Ukraine and no one fights back, [03:01.00]"we will see more of the same." [03:04.56]It would be difficult to stop a Russian invasion, [03:08.20]but experts say the U.S. could make strategic threats [03:12.28]to make Putin hold back. [03:15.40]Seth Jones is a political scientist, [03:18.36]and Philip Wasielewski is a former CIA officer. [03:24.12]They wrote about Ukraine on January 13 [03:27.44]for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. [03:32.60]They said the best defense [03:35.04]would be preventing a quick Russian victory. [03:39.24]If Russia believed that a war with Ukraine [03:42.32]could take a long time and have economic, political and military costs, [03:49.36]it could think twice about an invasion. [03:53.44]Biden's advisers say they are thinking in a similar way. [03:58.48]John Kirby is the press spokesperson for the Pentagon. [04:03.44]He said there are about 200 members [04:06.68]of the U.S. National Guard in Ukraine [04:10.12]training soldiers along with other special U.S. troops. [04:15.12]He said the U.S. does not plan to send more people. [04:18.88]The U.S. recently said it will send another $200 million [04:24.24]in military aid to Ukraine. [04:27.40]That is in addition to about $2.5 billion [04:31.84]of military aid sent since 2014. [04:36.20]National security adviser Jake Sullivan [04:39.44]said the U.S. would increase support for Ukraine, [04:42.64]but did not say exactly how. [04:46.44]The U.S. also said it might increase military support [04:51.16]to NATO member nations in eastern Europe. [04:55.44]Jones and Wasielewski wrote that the U.S. should make it clear [05:00.24]it will fully support Ukraine financially if Russia invades. [05:06.24]They said the aid could be delivered by U.S troops or by the CIA. [05:12.36]However, these actions would put Americans in the middle of a war [05:16.92]the U.S. is trying to avoid. [05:20.64]I'm Jill Robbins. [05:23.24]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM