The U.S. President Joe Biden signed a law that provides for the allocation of about $12 billion in new aid to Ukraine. This is stated in a message on the White House website.
“The President signed the H.R. 6833 “Continuing and additional appropriations to Ukraine for 2023″ Act, which provides for FY 2023 appropriations through December 16, 2022, to federal agencies for ongoing federal government projects and activities, and includes additional appropriations to respond to the situation in Ukraine,” the statement said.
The package for Kyiv includes, among other things, economic instruments to support the work of the Ukrainian government, funds for military assistance, as well as US military missions in Europe.
In Moscow, the allocation of another tranche of aid to Ukraine was previously called a demonstration of how much Washington “lost touch with reality, actually becoming a party to the conflict.”
“The lion’s share will again go to the purchase of weapons for Kyiv and will “dissipate” in the pockets of those who allocate it. Soon, the volume of American financial support for the Zelensky regime will reach an astronomical amount of $26 billion (since Biden’s inauguration, only Washington and Ukraine’s military needs alone have spent more than $14 billion),” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing.
According to her, no amount of money will help the Kyiv regime to return under its control the people “who chose freedom instead of coercion.”
“What they didn’t promise these people! They were not only intimidated – at a certain stage they were tried to “buy”. They promised manna from heaven, all sorts of well-being, a visa-free regime with the European Union,” she said. “They gave up sweet slavery, the price of which would be renunciation of themselves.”
Military trenches
Recall that since the beginning of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, Washington has repeatedly announced assistance to Kyiv, primarily military. In total, since February 24, the United States has allocated more than $16.2 billion to the Ukrainian side for defense needs.
The latest such $1.1 billion package announced by U.S. officials on Sept. 28 includes, according to the Pentagon, 18 HIMARS MLRS, 150 HMMWV armored vehicles, radars, anti-drone weapons, and 40 trucks and 80 trailers to transport heavy equipment.
Commenting on the next tranche to Kyiv, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing that the US desire to help Ukraine “will not work.”
“We will continue to support the Ukrainian people and provide them with the necessary security assistance for their self-defense – and we will do this for as long as necessary,” the White House spokeswoman said.
Recall that earlier Washington had already supplied Kyiv with 16 HIMARS MLRS, announced the shipment of eight NASAMS air defense systems, ammunition for them, HARM anti-radar missiles and related projectiles, as well as 1.5 thousand TOW anti-tank guided missiles.
The Pentagon also announced the transfer to the Ukrainian authorities of more than 1.4 thousand Stinger air defense systems, at least 8.5 thousand Javelin anti-tank systems, 20 Mi-17 helicopters, 200 M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs), as well as hundreds of drones, in particular Switchblade, Phoenix Ghost, Sky Eagle and Puma.
In addition, the Pentagon is considering supplying modern tanks to Kyiv, The New York Times reports, citing a senior US Department of Defense official. According to him, the Pentagon is discussing ways of long-term support for the Ukrainian side, within which it is planned to supply modern weapons used by NATO.
Later, National Security Adviser to the American President Jake Sullivan did not rule out the possibility of supplying tanks to Ukraine, but noted that the United States was not yet ready to announce such assistance. But Sullivan promised that Washington would announce another arms tranche for Ukraine next week.
However, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing multiple sources in both parties in Congress, as the US midterm elections approach, “new political barriers may emerge in the way of helping Kyiv.” In particular, already now, the broad congressional consensus in favor of aiding Ukraine is “beginning to show signs of division” as many Republicans in the House of Representatives question “wouldn’t this money be better spent fighting China and solving US economic problems”? writes WSJ.
“Save the Kyiv regime”
Experts agree that if the Republicans win a majority in both houses in the parliamentary elections, it will be more difficult for Democrats to approve assistance to Ukraine.
“Under such conditions, the provision of military assistance to Kyiv from Washington can be slowed down and seriously reduced, despite the fact that the anti-Russian consensus is strong in the United States. Republicans, who are primarily focused on fighting China, are ready to sacrifice a large share of the assistance intended for Ukraine”, said Nikita Danyuk, deputy director of the RUDN University Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber, in a conversation with RT.
A similar opinion is shared by Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Research at the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In his opinion, there are many among Republicans who believe that priority should be given to solving domestic problems, rather than foreign policy.
“In addition, even among those Republicans who agree with the primacy of geopolitics, there are those who believe that not Europe, but the Asia-Pacific region is more important for the United States. A large number of representatives of the Republican Party are confident that the main threat to the United States is not Russia, but China, and that it is on countering the PRC that the main efforts should be focused”, the analyst explained in an interview with RT.
Batyuk also noted that before the elections, according to the results of which the majority in Congress could go to the Republicans, the Democrats are trying to make the most of the opportunity to pump weapons to Ukraine.
Danyuk, for his part, agrees that Washington, providing large-scale assistance to Kyiv, is one way or another a participant in the conflict.
“Now Ukraine is actually bankrupt, and without American help it will not be able to function. The Americans understand that if they want to continue using the Ukrainian case as a tool to fight against Russia, then they need to allocate money for this, otherwise the Ukrainian state will cease to exist, because there will be no financial fuel and military supplies”, said Danyuk.
He believes that the law signed by Biden and the latest package of military assistance speak of Washington’s interest in Ukraine “to the last put up at least some resistance.”
“They promise to supply new 18 HIMARS since Ukraine has no Soviet ammunition left. Therefore, its combat capability is 100% dependent solely on the West. The next package of military assistance, which Washington promises to announce next week, may include air defense systems, missiles with a range of 200-300 km and projectiles for HIMARS,” Danyuk said.
As he stressed, the White House is now trying to intensify the supply of weapons to Ukraine, not only in view of the imminent congressional elections, but also out of fear of the start of active operations of the RF Armed Forces.
“Washington is in a hurry to supply weapons to Kyiv, because they are afraid that Russian troops could destroy critical infrastructure, including transport, including railway lines. For the United States, such strikes can cut off the opportunity to saturate Ukraine with weapons so that it fights to the last,” Danyuk believes.
Vladimir Batyuk recalled that Washington is forced to provide Kyiv not only with military assistance, but also with economic support for the work of the Ukrainian government, since it is “in a difficult situation.”
“There is a strong economic downturn. Under these conditions, Ukraine simply cannot survive without American help. These funds are intended, among other things, to save the Kyiv regime from complete economic collapse and defeat on the battlefield”, the expert believes.
At the same time, he did not rule out that the delivery of equipment as part of the latest package of military assistance to Kyiv would be extended for a fairly long period of time.
“But even if the Americans are able to deliver everything they planned to Kyiv after some time, they will soon face a very big problem. There will be a question about maintenance of this equipment and repair. To do this, you need to have the appropriate infrastructure, which is not in Ukraine. Kyiv has repair bases for the restoration of Soviet equipment, but not American or NATO ones”, the analyst concluded.
Irina Taran, Elizaveta Komarova, RT
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