...... several progressives have echoed criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin as an authoritarian whose advances must be checked.

“We can’t allow for one nation to violate sovereignty, unprovoked, with no justification,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) told the Prospect in an interview. Asked whether the United States should be willing, in diplomatic talks, to commit to not bringing Ukraine into NATO, Khanna said, “I would not be blackmailed by Putin in this situation.”

Other major critics of American interventionism declined to call on Biden to pump the brakes.

The 41 co-sponsors of a sanctions package moving through the Senate include progressive heavyweights like Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. In a press release on the bill, Markey said the legislation was designed to “work in concert with the actions the Biden administration has already taken to demonstrate that we will continue to support Ukraine and its sovereignty.”