The White House warned Thursday that military aid to Ukraine could run out before the end of the year and that Congress must approve more aid to Ukraine as soon as possible, the New York Times reported.
"We're running out of money, and we're running out of time." Saranda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, issued the urgent warning in a letter. By mid-November, all but about 3 percent of the military's funding had been exhausted, she said, and if Ukraine's economy collapsed, they would be unable to continue fighting and Ukraine's "battle to defend" would grind to a halt.
This is the latest move by the US administration to pressure Republicans who refuse to renew aid to Ukraine to drop their opposition. The letter has been sent to leaders of both parties in both houses of Congress.
The Biden administration has been trying for weeks to push a new "national security" funding package through Congress, but has repeatedly hit a wall. In October, the Biden administration asked Congress for $106 billion to provide military assistance to Israel, Ukraine and other Allies, including $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel and $9.15 billion for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Chang 'an Avenue Governor (wechat ID: Capitalnews) noted that as early as September this year, John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator of the White House National Security Council, urged Congress to seize the time to approve the appropriation of $24 billion. He said that if the U.S. Congress does not approve additional funding, the next step of aid could be affected. Nearly 30 Republican lawmakers sent a letter to the White House opposing the continuation of $24 billion in aid to Ukraine.
In November, U.S. Defense Secretary Austin made a surprise visit to Kiev to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine, stressing that "the United States is with you." During this period, the US Department of Defense announced a new round of military aid to Ukraine, totaling $100 million, including high mobility rocket launcher system (HIMARS) and missiles, ammunition and other equipment.
The US media commented that the funds available for the United States to aid Ukraine are gradually running low, and the total amount of the aid package is "the smallest amount to date."
The United States has provided Kiev with more than $76 billion in military equipment and other aid since the conflict broke out in February last year.
In recent months, members of Congress have become increasingly skeptical of aid to Ukraine, and Republicans have sharply reduced military support for Ukraine and tied aid money to efforts to strengthen security along the U.S.-Mexico border. Republicans have said they would only consider providing "additional assistance" in exchange for one of their top policy priorities, a major overhaul of U.S. border policy to severely limit the number of immigrants allowed into the country.
According to reports, the US government recently distributed to members of Congress a map of the "beneficiary states of military aid to Ukraine", detailing for the first time how the approximately $27 billion in military aid to Ukraine is translated into military industry investment in dozens of states. Some analysts believe that the Democratic administration's move is intended to persuade more Republican members of Congress to support military aid to Ukraine.
Last week, Kirby claimed at a briefing that a new Russian operation targeting critical infrastructure in Ukraine was about to begin. He warned that while the US and Kiev had been "actively" preparing for this for months, much remained to be done.
"We need Congress to act to approve additional supplemental funding so we can continue to provide Ukraine with the air defense assets and spare supplies they need." Mr Kirby believes the window of opportunity for funding is getting smaller.
According to another reference news report, Russia's TASS news agency reported on December 3 that Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's office, said in an interview with the Ukrainian news agency that because of the defeat of the national army in the front and the corruption of national public officials, Ukrainian society is full of anger against the authorities.
In the interview, which was posted on a video website, he admitted: "You know as well as I do that there is a lot of anger that has been simmering in society, and that's one thing. Second, there are a lot of thorny problems in society, such as what to do, where to go, why, and at what cost... Not everyone was fully engaged in the war. I am referring to corruption, to patterns of behaviour and, from time to time, to odd pronouncements. It is all very stressful because there is no breakthrough at the front."
Podolyak also used the word "bleak" to describe the current situation in Ukrainian society, "two years of war, political life has stalled and many ambitions have not been realized."
