The war in Ukraine has been going on since Feb. 24, 2022, when the country was invaded by Russia. Since then, the U.S. has poured billions of dollars in aid into Ukraine. Most recently, a new round of Ukraine funding was approved just two days after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky made his first wartime trip abroad, visiting with President Joe Biden on Dec. 21. The new aid package caused pushback from both Republicans, who questioned the massive spending, and progressive Democrats, who have called for peace talks.

But according to journalist Aaron Maté, the U.S government isn’t looking for diplomacy but for a prolonged stalemate in Ukraine.

“The public fawning over Zelensky was belied by sobering admissions in private. Buried in the bipartisan jingoism was the quiet assessment that more US weapons will not turn the tide on the battlefield,” wrote Maté in his blog.

Maté, a Canadian writer and journalist, hosts the show “Pushback with Aaron Maté” on The Grayzone, a far-left news website. He has also contributed to The Nation, among other outlets.

Maté became well known for challenging the conclusions of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. He labeled the investigation “Russiagate.”

Amazing candor from Iran-Contra felon Ollie North:

Ukraine is just like Reagan's dirty wars in Central America, Africa and Afghanistan

Most of the aid is a kickback to US weapons makers and Beltway contractors

The proxy war is preparation for a larger war w/ China over Taiwan pic.twitter.com/kmKW2JZCH4

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 29, 2022

Maté isn’t the only one who believes the U.S. doesn’t want to see an end to the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that America wants to drag out the war in Ukraine.

“The situation in Ukraine shows that the U.S. is trying to prolong this conflict,” he said during an address at a conference on international security in August 2022.

The war, Putin claimed, also lets the U.S. push its “anti-Russia” propaganda.

The war is also depleting Russia’s military capacity, wrote Maté, which would be of benefit to the U.S.

There “are the cold, hard hegemonic interests that the US is defending in Ukraine. As Ukraine faces its second winter under an even more ferocious Russian onslaught, the apparent calculus is that not enough blood has been spilled,” wrote Maté.

Local residents carry the body of a 20-year-old man killed in Russian shelling in Kherson, Ukraine, Jan. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/LIBKOS)