Damascus-SANA
The Western escalation continues on the military and political fronts in Ukraine, as US President Joe Biden arrived two days ago in the capital, Kiev, on a surprise visit that lasted for hours, during which he met with President Vladimir Zelensky.
Biden pledged to Zelensky to deliver new military equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars worth $500 million, and said: It is necessary that there be no doubts about the continued support of the United States to Ukraine.
The new $500 million is in addition to the $40.4 billion provided by Washington since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, more than half of which is military aid, making it the largest military supporter of Kiev.
Zelensky made it clear that the talks focused on providing Kiev with long-range weapons and other strategic weapons that his country had not been supplied with before.
Moscow described Biden's visit as provocative and aims to continue the war that Washington has created in Ukraine in an attempt to weaken Russia.
Biden's visit and his insistence on providing more support to Kiev comes despite the refusal of more than half of Americans to continue this support and their demand to resolve the crisis diplomatically, even if it requires making concessions and making settlements with Russia.
According to a poll by the American Insider website, 61 percent of Americans believe that the Ukrainian crisis has affected them financially and that they feel economic pressure because they pay the bill from their pockets.
Quincy Statecraft Institute: Ukraine is now the largest recipient of US military aid, and Washington's military involvement in it is on the rise as it provides it with advanced weapons and intelligence to fuel confrontation with Russia.
Since the launch of the Russian military operation, Ukraine has received military and financial aid from more than 20 countries and 4 international organizations, in addition to donor conferences.
The total amount of subsidies amounted to more than $151 billion, which is 2.7 times the size of Ukraine's 2022 budget of $55.5 billion.
The value of military aid has reached $49 billion, while financial aid is estimated at $102.2 billion, distributed as follows:
The European Union, $43.2 billion
The United States, $40.9 billion
The World Bank, $18 billion
Donor conferences in European countries $11.2 billion
Germany, $5.7 billion
Britain, $5.4 billion
The United Nations, $4.3 billion
Canada, $3.4 billion
Poland 3 billion dollars
International Monetary Fund $2.7 billion
The Czech Republic, $2.1 billion
France, $1.5 billion
Norway, Sweden, Japan and other countries $ 9.8 billion
Russian President Vladimir Putin said before the Russian Federal Assembly yesterday that the West has spent more than $150 billion to arm Ukraine, using it as a front to turn the conflict into a global war, stressing that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield.
Putin announced the suspension of Russia's participation in the Strategic Offensive Weapons Treaty "START" as a result of the United States' non-compliance with it, directing the Ministry of Defense to prepare for nuclear weapons testing if Washington does so first.
Preparing the follow-up and monitoring department
