Joe Biden said Ukraine aid package “should have gotten there sooner”
Washington:
The United States is the first to recognize that its long-awaited $61 billion aid package for Ukraine is not a “silver bullet.”
As weapons and ammunition are rushed into the country, other issues, such as manpower shortages in Kiev’s armed forces, come to the fore.
However, the months-long delay in approving the aid package – caused by disputes among US lawmakers – has further weakened Ukraine’s position on the battlefield, according to analysts.
President Joe Biden, who quickly signed the bill into law on Wednesday after it passed Congress, said the bill “should have come sooner.”
Jake Sullivan, his National Security Advisor, said the aid package “will make a difference” but warned that “there is no silver bullet in this conflict.”
“A capability will not be the ultimate solution,” Sullivan said at a White House briefing, although he added that “Ukraine’s position in this conflict will improve and we believe Ukraine can and will win.”
Kiev has relied heavily on billions of dollars in US military aid in its war with Russia following the full-scale invasion of Moscow in February 2022.
But in recent months Ukrainian forces – outgunned and outnumbered – have struggled to contain Russian troops.
And in the United States – Ukraine’s largest provider of military assistance – a stalled Congress had not approved large-scale funding for Kiev since December 2022, before the new package was approved this week.
It contains almost 14 billion dollars to train, equip and finance the needs of the Ukrainian army.
Labor shortage
Garret Martin of the School of International Service at American University in Washington said U.S. lawmakers’ delay in approving the aid package “came at a cost.”
“Aid can support Ukraine, but it is not a magic wand that can solve all the challenges they face,” Martin said.
“What the package cannot do is address labor shortages,” he added.
Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, discussed the labor issue, according to the White House.
In April, Kiev lowered the minimum age for military conscription from 27 to 25, making thousands more men eligible for conscription.
And this week, it stopped issuing new passports abroad to Ukrainian men of military age as part of measures to force them to return home and fight.
Max Bergmann of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the impact of American aid would depend on European efforts.
“European nations need to increase (weapons) production now,” Bergmann said.
“Europe’s aim should be to put itself in a position that allows it to potentially fill a future gap left by the United States if it does not approve another supplement.”
Bergmann said Ukraine should use 2024 to “hold the line, deplete and divert Russian forces,” with next year possibly presenting an opportunity for an offensive on Kiev.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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