“What Will Ukraine Do Without Uncle Joe?” by Dan De Luce and Reid Standish, Foreign Policy, October 30: (http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/30/what-will-ukraine-do-without-joe-biden-putin-war-kiev-clinton-trump/):
No one in the U.S. government has wielded more influence over Ukraine than Vice-President Joe Biden. As the Obama administration’s point person on Ukraine policy, he has rallied support for Kiev [sic] in the face of Russian military intervention and cultivated a personal rapport with its leaders. …
In 2014, Russian troops seized and annexed the Crimean Peninsula and then reportedly deployed Moscow’s own soldiers to eastern Ukraine to back separatists there. At the time, Obama overruled Biden and most of his advisors in deciding against arming Ukrainian soldiers.
Instead, Obama pushed for economic sanctions against Russia and agreed to have Germany and France lead diplomatic efforts with Kiev and Moscow to resolve the conflict. …
But the fighting has continued, and patience for Russia is running out in Congress, where some lawmakers now favor slapping fresh economic sanctions on Moscow. Senior diplomats are also frustrated at the state of the fraying Minsk peace agreement and believe the time has come for the United States to take a leading role in the talks, instead of deferring to Berlin and Paris. …
Ukraine’s government has relied heavily on its direct channel to the U.S. vice-president, and Biden’s departure will leave a gaping hole.
… it’s clear the next president will “have to have a point person for Ukraine,” whether at the White House or the State Department, said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. …