American human rights defender, political activist and philanthropist Amed Khan listens to Yuri Fedorenko, commander of the Ukrainian attack drone battalion “Achilles” in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Sunday, October 27, 2024. (Efrem Lukatsky /AP)

KHARKIV, Ukraine — Every time American philanthropist Amed Khan returns to Ukraine, he begins by offering his condolences to those killed in the war since his last trip. Over the past two and a half years, his group has provided more than $50 million in aid to civilians and soldiers struggling to survive the Russian invasion.

Some of them are already dead.

For Khan, a U.S. government official turned philanthropist, those he supports are like family. He travels to meet them on the front lines and in war-torn cities. His proximity to those enduring war also exposes him to the pain and loss they experience directly.

“When you deal directly with people, you feel the pain of war,” he said moments after meeting a father who survived a bomb attack that killed his son.

Khan and many other Americans across the U.S. political spectrum who support Ukraine’s war effort, whether through financial aid or voluntary fighting, say the United States — Ukraine’s main ally Ukraine – did not do enough to help Ukraine defeat Russia. They doubt that Tuesday’s American elections will change the situation.

“Since the start of the war, the United States has managed to rally its allies to support Ukraine, but not in the way they should,” said Khan, who worked on President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign. .

“So I think their strategy is not necessarily that Ukraine wins and Russia loses.”

He spoke to The Associated Press over the weekend in the eastern region of Kharkiv, one of several stops on his planned route, all along the front line.

The United States has provided more than $59.5 billion in military aid since Russia’s invasion in 2022, but many say kyiv’s potential has often been thwarted by American policy. Ukrainian officials say promised weapons often arrive late.

Zelensky’s demands for an invitation to join NATO and permission to use Western-donated weapons to strike deeper into Russia were met cautiously by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, fearing an escalation with a nuclear-armed Russia.

Biden’s running mate, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, will likely pursue a similar policy, while former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has repeatedly challenged U.S. aid to Ukraine and could seeking to further limit military support, although he also cited an undetailed plan to end the war quickly.

At the same time, Russia has managed to strengthen its alliances with Iran and North Korea, the latter of which has apparently sent troops to help Russia in its fight.

“If the war escalates, then we’ll be there…and we’re not even providing enough for Ukraine to win,” said another American philanthropist, Howard G. Buffett, during a recent visit to Ukraine, his 16th since the start of the war. war. “And we’ve never had a strategy for how we’re going to defeat Russia,” Buffett said.

Buffett, a Republican and son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, focuses on humanitarian needs such as infrastructure, agriculture and mine clearance, and his foundation has contributed about $800 million to Ukraine.

“If Ukraine doesn’t succeed, the rest of the democratic world will pay a high price,” Buffett told the AP. “And the failure of us all to collectively understand this and see it and act on it will be the biggest mistake that will ever happen in my lifetime.”

Driven by that same conviction, an American volunteer flew to Poland in August to enlist in the Ukrainian International Legion, after mulling over his choice for about a year.

“I feel like the decision was harder than it should have been,” says the 35-year-old fighter, who asked to be identified by the call sign Smoky, in accordance with Ukrainian military protocol. A former accountant with no military experience, he now serves in one of the Ukrainian units in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Smoky, a father of two young daughters, says seeing the impact of the Russian invasion on Ukrainian families has “weighed heavily” on him.

As the American election campaign rages in his country, Smoky says he is happy to be “far from all this drama”. Instead, he focuses on preparing for his first mission as an infantryman.

“We are tying Ukraine’s hands with restrictions on the use of specific weapons,” he says. “It feels like we’re just prolonging the war.”

Another 25-year-old volunteer fighter from Texas, with the call sign Dima, began a three-month commitment to fight in Ukraine in 2022, and that has since turned into a multi-year commitment.

A former Marine, he saw some of the fiercest battles of the war, including the longest for Bakhmut, after which he took his only break. When he returned home to meet his family and friends, no one could relate to his experiences.

Additionally, “the United States currently faces many problems of its own,” he said.

“So they feel less inclined now to send more of our taxes here, which I understand,” he said. “But as someone who has been here since the war began, I see that it is absolutely necessary.”

Khan, who now manages about 300 ongoing projects in Ukraine, urged his fellow Americans to focus on the lives shattered by the conflict in Ukraine, emphasizing that the outcome of the war could significantly affect global security.

Khan said he hoped the winner of the US presidential election would “really, really spend more time understanding what’s going on here.” I urge whoever would win to do so, and then try to find a new path to end this war. »

Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.