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The US Congress continues to block aid to Ukraine.
The Biden administration is now taking an “extraordinary” measure.
Washington, DC – The Biden administration said on Tuesday (March 12) that it will provide an additional $300 million in security assistance to Ukraine.
This is an “extraordinary action” taken as President Joe Biden’s request for billions more dollars remains blocked in Congress.
The emergency aid package announced by the White House will be funded by "unforeseen cost savings" from contracts brokered by the Pentagon to replace weapons previously delivered to Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
The aid will include artillery shells, anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft weapons and other weapons, as well as spare parts, U.S. officials said.
ATACMS missiles also among ammunition for Ukraine support – range unclear
The munitions include medium-range cluster munitions from the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which Ukrainian forces have repeatedly used to bombard Russian headquarters and troop formations, said a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The United States has previously shipped these missiles, which have a range of about 100 miles.
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U.S. officials declined to say whether they were also sending long-range ATACM munitions, which Ukrainian officials have sought for months.
“This is assistance that Ukraine urgently needs to defend itself against Russian attacks and to repel the ongoing Russian onslaught in the east and other parts of Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
60 billion for Ukraine are in the US Congress - Republicans are putting pressure on the Biden government
The momentum of the Ukraine war, now in its third year, has waned as Ukrainian frontline units' weapons supplies dwindle and Russian forces again attempt to break through defensive positions.
In his State of the Union address last week, Biden urged lawmakers to pass a bill that would provide an additional $60 billion to support the government in Kyiv, but the bill also includes money for Israel and against China , has stalled in a bitter debate in the Republican-led House of Representatives.
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The $95 billion measure passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has refused to hold a vote on it.
His weak position as speaker of the House is being threatened by members of his party who want to make any additional aid to Ukraine conditional on the passage of new immigration measures that Democrats say are too strict.
Former President Donald Trump also encouraged House Republicans not to pass the bill, even though it enjoys broad bipartisan support in the Senate.
Approved US aid almost exhausted - USA wants to quickly support Ukraine in its “existential struggle”.
The Biden administration has approved sending more than $44 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to enter in February 2022, but the funds approved by Congress ran out in January, officials said Biden administration.
In a separate briefing, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, called the move an "extraordinary measure" as Ukraine faces an "existential struggle."
“However, this does not change the fact that we urgently need Congress to pass the Defense Department’s amendment,” Ryder said.
"Today's ... package, while providing urgent capabilities to Ukrainian armed forces, is far from sufficient, and the only way to meet Ukraine's battlefield needs is through Congress's rapid passage of the supplemental proposal."
US President Joe Biden.
© Kyle Mazza/Imago
Asked why the Pentagon did not announce earlier that this money was available for Ukraine, Ryder said that defense officials had only determined the amount in recent weeks.
He declined to say when exactly the additional weapons and ammunition would be delivered, but predicted it would be "quick."
The package will likely help support Ukraine over a period of “weeks,” Ryder said.
Ukrainian military officials interviewed by The
Washington Post
this year said they are having to ration the shells they can fire at Russian opponents as their supplies run out.
After a bitter battle, Ukrainian forces were forced to withdraw last month from the strategic city of Avdiivka in the east of the country, leaving some of them stranded behind enemy lines.
Zelensky fears danger to the civilian population - CIA director sees US support as necessary
Leaders in Kiev, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have said vital air defense weapons are also becoming increasingly scarce, leaving the country's civilian population more vulnerable to missile and drone attacks.
CIA Director William J. Burns, appearing on Capitol Hill this week along with other senior U.S. intelligence officials, told lawmakers that with continued American military aid into next year, Ukraine will "maintain the front lines" and continue to target Russian targets could attack both beyond its borders and in the Black Sea.
Without US weapons, he warned, the Ukrainians would “lose significant ground.”
“Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity,” Burns said.
“They're running out of ammunition.
And we’re running out of time to help them.”
To the author
Dan Lamothe
has worked for The Washington Post since 2014, covering the U.S. military.
He has been writing about the armed forces for more than 15 years, has traveled extensively, gotten to know five branches of the armed forces and reported on combat operations in Afghanistan.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on March 13, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.