The White House warned on Monday that it will run out of money to support Ukraine by the end of the year if the US Congress does not approve a new aid package. In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Shalanda D. Young, White House Director of Management and Budget, warned that a lack of such support will “damage Ukraine on the battlefield, not just the gains it has made.” achieved, but also the likelihood of Russian military victories.”
The Joe Biden administration’s warning comes as several Republicans at the start of the election year are increasingly reluctant to support Kiev in a war that could drag on for years. Polls show that a growing number of voters believe the US is doing too much to help Ukraine, while the West fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will take advantage of the circumstances.
So far, Congress has approved $111 billion in aid to Ukraine – in reality, almost 60% remained in the US, to help the arms industry -, with the White House requesting another $61.4 billion in October. By November, the Defense Department had already used 97% of the 62.3 billion it received, and the State Department had used the entire 4.7 billion in military aid. The approximately 27.2 billion euros in economic aid has also been used, as has the 10 billion in humanitarian aid.
“There is no magic pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money and running out of time,” the person in charge wrote. “This is not a problem for next year. The time to help a democratic Ukraine counter Russian aggression is now. It is time for Congress to act,” he concluded, recalling in the letter that U.S. assistance is in the interest of national security. “It avoids major conflicts in the region that could involve NATO and endanger U.S. forces and deters future aggression, making us all safer,” he said.
The warning comes at a time when, according to Kiev, Moscow’s forces have opened two new battle fronts in an attempt to capture Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region. The industrial city, whose control the Russians have been seeking for two months, is almost surrounded. “The current third wave of enemy attacks differs from the previous two because it conditionally opened two new directions,” said Vitaliy Barabash, head of the city’s military administration, as quoted by AFP. “The release of new clues proves that the enemy has received an order to capture the city at all costs.”
With agencies
Source: DN
