Guest Column: One Morning in Georgetown Before the Invasion of Ukraine  

By David Tafuri    

Early one morning — just a few days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 — my phone rang as I lay asleep in bed. I answered and heard the voice of an old friend, a Ukrainian diplomat with whom I’d lost touch when his tour in Washington ended a few years earlier.  

“Are you in D.C. now?” Yes. “Can you come to the Ukrainian Embassy in Georgetown? I need to speak with you.”   

I was intrigued. What did he want? At this point, Russia had amassed hundreds of thousands of troops near the border with Ukraine. An invasion seemed imminent, although some believed Putin wouldn’t go through with it.   

I dressed and was able to get to the embassy very quickly from my Georgetown home. My friend greeted me at the door, took me through security and brought me downstairs to the bottom floor of the embassy.   

He explained that, since I had last seen him, he had returned to Kyiv and become a key aide to the foreign minister of Ukraine. The previous night they had arrived together in Washington, at the invitation of the Biden administration, to discuss what they might need from the U.S. if Russia invaded. He wanted to hear my thoughts on what they should ask for, but said, “First, let me show you around the embassy.”   

Ukraine’s embassy is on M Street in Georgetown’s commercial district, in one of Georgetown’s most historic buildings. It was originally the home of Gen. Uriah Forrest, a good friend of George Washington. The two gathered several prominent landowners and met on the bottom floor of Forrest’s home to secure commitments for the land they needed to plan America’s capital.   

My friend ended our tour in the room where that planning session happened, now known as the Washington Room. Before we sat to talk, he took me to a credenza, opened a box and handed me an exact replica of the main key to the French Bastille, which had been bestowed upon President George Washington by the Marquis de Lafayette. The original is displayed at Mount Vernon, and this replica was given to Ukraine soon after it became independent in 1991 and opened its new embassy in this storied building.   

The black iron key is hefty. As I weighed it in my hands, the irony was not lost on either of us that this great symbol of freedom and democracy was in the custody of the one country that was about to become the critical front line for Western democracy.   

We discussed a number of initiatives that might help Ukraine. Would the Biden administration consider something like the Lend-Lease Act, which the Roosevelt administration used to help equip Great Britain to defend itself against Nazi Germany? What economic measures could be taken to paralyze Russia’s economy? How might Ukraine get access to Russian state funds that were sure to be frozen by the U.S. and European countries if Russia invaded?   

Each of these ideas became policies of the U.S. over time and were hard fought by the many American officials and members of Congress who understood the necessity to come to Ukraine’s aid in the defense of democracy and our own security. While both the Biden administration and the Trump administration have helped Ukraine, neither has done enough. Presently, the Trump administration is focused on securing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine to end the war.   

For what it’s worth, I do not think a lasting ceasefire is possible until Russia is further weakened. Putin’s demands now are almost identical to those he made at the beginning of the war.   

Meanwhile, the same initiatives we discussed in February of 2022 remain critical today. Only a two-pronged approach that ensures both the provision of sophisticated weapons systems to Ukraine and a ratcheting up of sanctions on Russia will break Putin.   

I’ll never forget that morning when my knowledge of Georgetown’s historic past collided with Ukraine’s very dire future.   

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