World News | Congress Didn't Include Funds for Ukraine in Its Spending Bill. How Will That Affect the War?
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Ukraine had little reason to celebrate when US lawmakers approved a spending bill Saturday that averted a widely expected government shutdown. The measure didn't include the USD 6 billion in military assistance that Ukraine said it urgently needed.
Washington, Oct 3 (AP) Ukraine had little reason to celebrate when US lawmakers approved a spending bill Saturday that averted a widely expected government shutdown. The measure didn't include the USD 6 billion in military assistance that Ukraine said it urgently needed.
Now the Pentagon, White House and European allies are urging Congress to quickly reconsider. They warn that if the US stops sending ammunition, spare parts and air defences Ukraine will be at risk of losing ground in its counteroffensive to push back Russian forces. They argue that if Russia's invasion is not stopped in Ukraine, other nations — including NATO allies — could be endangered.
The gridlock comes as top Pentagon leaders prepare to meet next week with allies in Brussels where Ukraine is likely to be a hot topic.
A look at what's been provided to date and what's at stake.
AID TO DATE
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the US has provided USD 43.9 billion in weapons, including high-profile systems such as a Patriot air defence battery and Abrams tanks, almost 200 Howitzer 155mm firing systems and more than 2 million 155mm rounds, and approximately 300 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades.
But Ukraine needs more. The intensity of the ground conflict has meant that even with those eye-popping numbers, and additional support from European allies, Ukraine needs regular infusions of aid to sustain its forces as the war grinds on for months and possibly years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the US last month to lobby Congress for more assistance.
PUSHBACK
The lack of progress by Ukraine to push Russian forces back has created an opening for some members in Congress to question why the US should keep sending money. A hard-right flank of Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 race for the White House, is increasingly opposed to sending more money overseas.
That faction was pivotal in getting Ukraine funding stripped from the last-minute 45-day funding bill that prevented a shutdown. Likewise, some European allies, including Poland, have begun to pull back on their support for the war, citing the need to prioritize their own defences.
On Sunday after the temporary spending bill was passed, President Joe Biden warned that the cuts could hit Ukraine at a critical time. “We cannot under any circumstances allow America's support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said, urging Congress to negotiate an aid package as soon as possible.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The US still has about USD 5.4 billion available that it can use to pull existing weapons from its stockpile to send to Ukraine, which should be enough in the short term based on the current usage rate, said John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia programme at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies,
However, if the aid doesn't keep flowing, Ukrainian resistance will begin to weaken soon, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “If there's no new money, they're going to start feeling it by Thanksgiving,” Cancian said. The holiday falls on November 23 this year.
The lack of funding now also affects next spring's fighting, and could have a compounding effect, Hardie said. The planning for a spring counteroffensive should be starting now, “and with each passing week that just gets worse," he said.
On Monday, the Pentagon's top financial officer warned Congress that cutting Ukraine funding hurts the US military, too — because the military's funding to replenish the weapons systems it has sent forward is also running out.
If the pushback on US funds for Ukraine “is an indicator of things to come I would say Ukraine is in trouble and so is the United States,” said John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine and senior director at the Atlantic Council.
He said Russia has everything to gain if US support wanes and it could cost the US far more in the long run if Russia does take control of Ukraine, which would force the US to further increase its military presence among NATO countries bordering Russia.
Herbst said he thinks this pushback on Ukraine funding may just be a “one-off.” Given the support for Ukraine among many Republican lawmakers, the holdout by that small faction of hard-right Republicans "antagonised a lot of people, including many in their own party. So this may be a pyrrhic victory for them” and a future bill would see the funds restored. Party leaders on both sides emphasised the need to continue supporting Ukraine in the hours after the bill passed.
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT
One major question is if the US slows or ends its support for Ukraine, will other allies follow its example?
The US dwarfs all other individual donors, but other nations have also sent large chunks of money and weapons. The 27-country European Union is poised to send about USD 40.3 billion in aid, including more than USD 17 billion from Germany alone and USD 5.6 billion through EU institutions, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy's Ukraine Support Tracker.
Other top contributors include Denmark, USD 3.5 billion, Poland, USD 3 billion, and the Netherlands, USD 2.5 billion.
Some of the EU's biggest military powers are contributing only small portions: France — the bloc's No. 2 economy and considered neck-and-neck with Britain as Western Europe's biggest military power — has pledged USD 530 million and Italy some USD 660 million, the tracker says.
Even far-smaller Lithuania has ponied up more: USD 710 million.
Britain, which is no longer in the EU, has pledged nearly USD 6.6 billion worth of military support for Ukraine. Norway, which is also outside the EU, has committed nearly USD 3.7 billion.
The other nations have also been steps ahead of the US on certain lethal military equipment. It was pressure from NATO allies Poland and Britain that got Germany and eventually the US to provide higher-tech tanks, and Denmark and the Netherlands formed a training coalition to spur the movement of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)