The White House has issued its most desperate-sounding appeal yet on behalf of Ukraine, warning that without congressional action U.S. military funding will expire this month.
The U.S. administration told senior lawmakers that Ukraine will face debilitating consequences on the battlefield unless it gets a new funding package this month.
“We are out of money, and nearly out of time,” White House budget chief Shalanda Young told congressional leaders in a letter released Monday.
“This isn’t a next year problem. The time to help a democratic Ukraine fight against Russian aggression is right now.”
That sense of urgency was underscored by news Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address a private classified meeting of U.S. lawmakers Tuesday.
The White House said 97 per cent had already been spent from military funding for Ukraine, or $62.3 billion US so far based on one method for calculating weapons transfers. Young added the administration needed a top up this month.
That new money would pay for additional weapons to be manufactured in U.S. factories, and replenish the U.S. arsenal so older stockpiles can keep getting shipped to Ukraine.
For Ukraine’s defence, American military support is an existential matter, as the U.S. has delivered more military aid than the rest of the world combined.
Featured VideoA leading NATO official and Canada’s top military commander have both warned allies that their ammunition shortages have reached a crisis state. They’re calling for urgent action to boost production of critical artillery rounds.
That assistance faces growing international headwinds.
In Europe, Hungary has demanded that funding for Ukraine and Ukrainian membership in the European Union be stricken from the agenda of an EU meeting next week.
In the U.S. it’s become ensnared in domestic politics: The Republican Party is split over the issue and its leaders are demanding concessions if there’s going to be new funding.
What funding means in battlefield outcome
The author of a new book on the Russia-Ukraine war described funding as a fundamental factor that will determine the conditions under which this war ends.
Speaking at a Washington think-tank event last week, Gwendolyn Sasse described the Russian objective as destroying Ukraine as a state and nation.
She said Ukraine has, right now, no appetite whatsoever to…
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