Ukraine gets US military aid boost, but faces long slog as Russians advance
- US Congress gave final approval to a long-delayed US$61 billion aid package for Ukraine
- Ukraine hopes to quickly get supplies to the war zone as Russia makes battlefield gains
A big, new package of US military aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. Winning will still be a long slog.
The arms and ammunition in the US$61 billion military aid package should enable Ukraine to slow the Russian army’s bloody advances and block its strikes on troops and civilians. And it will buy Ukraine time – for long-term planning about how to take back the fifth of the country now under Russian control.
“Ultimately it offers Ukraine the prospect of staying in the war this year,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at King’s College London. “Sometimes in warfare you’ve just got to stay in it. You’ve just got to avoid being rolled over.”
The US House of Representatives approved the package on Saturday after months of delays by some Republicans wary of US involvement overseas. It was passed by the US Senate on Tuesday, and US President Joe Biden said he would sign it on Wednesday.
The difference could be felt within days on the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russia’s much larger army has been slowly taking territory against massively outgunned Ukrainian forces.
The aid approval means Ukraine may be able to release artillery ammunition from dwindling stocks that it has been rationing. More equipment will come soon from American stocks in Poland and Germany, and later from the US.