WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s long and painful battle with Republicans in Congress to secure urgently needed assistance for Ukraine will end on Wednesday when he signs into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan and other allies.
But significant damage was done to the administration’s efforts to help Ukraine repel Russia’s brutal invasion during the funding impasse that dates back to August, when Biden made his first request for emergency spending for aid to Ukraine. Even with a burst of new weapons and ammunition, Ukraine is unlikely to bounce back immediately after months of setbacks.
Biden is expected to quickly approve the transfer of an initial aid package of about $1 billion in military assistance – the first tranche of about $61 billion allocated to Ukraine, according to U.S. officials. It is expected to include air defense capabilities, artillery shells, armored vehicles and other weapons to bolster Ukrainian forces that have seen morale plummet as Russian President Vladimir Putin racked up victory after victory.
In a statement after the Senate approved the package on Tuesday night, Biden said he would sign it once he received it on Wednesday.
“This critical legislation will make our nation and the world safer as we support our friends defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin,” Biden said.
But in the long term, it remains uncertain whether Ukraine – after months of losses in eastern Ukraine and suffering enormous damage to its infrastructure – can make enough progress to sustain American political support before burning out the latest influx. Of money.
“This will not do Ukrainians any favors in Donbass, and certainly not in other parts of the country,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered setbacks. “Sir. Putin thinks he can buy time. So we have to try to make up some of that time.”
Russia now appears focused on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Russian forces exploited the city’s lack of air defense, destroying the region’s energy infrastructure and seeking to create conditions for a potential summer offensive to take the city.
House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed a vote on the supplemental relief package for months as members of his party’s far right, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to move to remove him. lo if he allowed a vote to send more assistance to Ukraine. These threats persist.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested his Republican colleagues’ delay in funding could have a lasting impact on Ukraine’s hopes of winning the war.
“Make no mistake: The delay in providing Ukraine with the weapons to defend itself has harmed prospects for defeating Russian aggression,” McConnell said Tuesday. “Hesitancy and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face.”
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee, has complained that European allies have not done enough for Ukraine. Although he did not support the supplemental funding package, his tone has changed in recent days, acknowledging that Ukraine’s survival is important to the United States.
Indeed, many European leaders have long feared that a second Trump presidency would mean a decline in U.S. support for Ukraine and the NATO military alliance. European anxiety increased in February when Trump, in a campaign speech, warned NATO allies that he would “encourage” Russia “to do whatever they want” with countries that fail to meet defense spending targets if he returned to the House. White.
It was a key moment in the debate over Ukraine’s spending. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg quickly criticized Trump for putting “American and European soldiers at increased risk.” Biden days later called Trump’s comments “dangerous” and “anti-American” and accused Trump of playing into Putin’s hands.
But in reality, White House maneuvers to obtain additional funding for Ukraine began months earlier.
Biden, a day after returning from a turbulent trip to Tel Aviv following Hamas militants’ stunning attack on Israel on Oct. 7, used a rare prime-time speech to make his pitch for the supplemental funding.
At the time, the House was in chaos because the Republican majority was unable to select a speaker to replace Representative Kevin McCarthy, who had been ousted more than two weeks ago. McCarthy’s reckoning with the far right of the Republican Party came after he agreed earlier this year to allow levels of federal spending that many on his right flank disagreed with and wanted undone.
Far-right Republicans have also vehemently opposed sending more money to Ukraine, and the war appears to have no end in sight. In August, Biden requested more than $20 billion to keep aid flowing to Ukraine, but the money was withdrawn from a must-pass spending bill even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington to make an appeal personnel for continued US support.
In late October, Republicans finally chose Johnson, a low-key Republican from Louisiana whose thinking on Ukraine was opaque, to serve as the next speaker. Biden, during his congratulatory call with Johnson, urged him to quickly approve aid to Ukraine and began a months-long, largely behind-the-scenes effort to bring the issue to a vote.
In private conversations with Johnson, Biden and White House officials addressed what is at stake for Europe if Ukraine falls into Russia’s hands. Five days after Johnson was formally elected president, national security adviser Jake Sullivan outlined to him the administration’s Ukraine strategy and assured him that accountability measures were in place in Ukraine to track where aid was going. — an effort to address a common complaint from conservatives. .
On explicit orders from Biden himself, White House officials also avoided directly attacking Johnson over the aid shutdown – a directive the president repeatedly instilled in his senior staff.
For his part, Johnson was seen by White House officials as a direct and honest actor during negotiations, according to a senior administration official. Biden was successful in finding common ground with Republicans early in his term to win approval of a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, legislation to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry and an expansion of federal care services. health care for veterans exposed to toxic smoke from campfires. And he knew there was plenty of Republican support for more funding for Ukraine.
At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden asked his advisers to “keep talking, keep working,” according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
So they did. In a daily meeting called by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, the president’s top aides — seated around a large oval table in Zients’ office — would brainstorm possible ways to better defend Ukraine’s dire situation in the absence of aid.
Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, and director of legislative affairs Shuwanza Goff were in regular contact with Johnson. The senior team of Goff and Johnson also spoke frequently as a deal came into focus.
The White House also sought to accommodate Johnson and his various requests. For example, administration officials, at the speaker’s request, informed Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. – two conservatives who were persistent antagonists of Johnson.
At the same time, senior Biden officials frequently updated McConnell, as well as top Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike Turner.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Biden’s instincts to resist putting pressure on Johnson proved correct.
“Joe Biden has a good sense of when to intervene strongly and when to try to shape things,” Schumer said.
In public, the administration implemented an intelligence devaluation strategy that demonstrated Russia’s efforts to strengthen its ties with U.S. adversaries China, North Korea and Iran, to strengthen Moscow’s defense industrial complex and circumvent US and European sanctions.
For example, U.S. officials this month presented intelligence findings showing that China has increased sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technologies that Moscow, in turn, is using to produce missiles, tanks, planes and other weaponry. Previously, the White House released information that Russia acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and acquired attack drones from Iran.
The $61 billion could help screen Ukrainian forces, but Kiev will need much more for a fight that could last years, military experts say.
Realistic goals for the coming months for Ukraine – and its allies – include avoiding the loss of major cities, slowing Russia’s momentum and getting additional weaponry to Kiev that could help them go on the offensive in 2025, said Bradley Bowman, specialist in defense strategy and policy. analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.
“In our microwave culture, we tend to want immediate results,” Bowman said. “And sometimes things are just difficult and you can’t get immediate results. I think Ukrainian success is not guaranteed, but Russian success is if we stop supporting Ukraine.”
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
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