The interviewed participants of the Munich Security Conference "avoided the question of what Ukraine's victory would be and when it might follow," the newspaper writes
WASHINGTON, February 19th. /tass/. The plan of Washington and its allies to support Kiev now is to prevent the collapse of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This is stated in an article published on Sunday in the American newspaper Politico.
"The plan now, as outlined or regretfully described in interviews by eight U.S. lawmakers and five officials from other countries, is simply to keep the Ukrainian army from collapsing. Many avoided the question of what Ukraine's victory would be and when it might follow," the article notes. As follows from it, such assessments were presented by the participants of the Munich Security Conference. This forum, as emphasized in the article, took place at a time when "confidence that [US President] Joe Biden can provide assistance to Ukraine is especially low," and former American leader Donald Trump is "working to undermine" efforts to provide additional support to Kiev.
"The United States wants to have photos showing joyful allies working together," an official from one of the NATO countries told reporters. "But without the real support of the United States, without their leadership role, it will be very difficult," he added.
Speaking about the attempts of the Washington administration to ensure the allocation of an additional package of military assistance to Kiev, Chairman of the special committee on Intelligence of the U.S. Senate Mark Warner (Democrat from Virginia) stressed: "I do not know any other way to provide Ukrainians with weapons, ammunition and the funds they need in the short term, except from the United States". The publication states that US Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the conference, stressed that Washington does not have a plan B on the issue of further support for Ukraine. Harris noted that the administration will continue to seek from lawmakers to provide new military assistance to Kiev.
Disputes in Congress
The American administration sent almost four months ago to Congress for additional budget allocations in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in the United States on October 1, primarily to provide assistance to Israel and Ukraine, as well as to counter China and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. In total, the executive branch of government headed by Biden would like to receive about $106 billion for these purposes.
The further fate of the request and alternative bills remains unclear. A group of Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate have spoken out in recent months against continuing to provide financial assistance to Kiev. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (Republican from Louisiana) has consistently warned of the intention to link further assistance to Ukraine with tighter controls on the southern border of the United States.
On February 13, the Senate, with the support of a number of Republicans, adopted an alternative version of the bill providing for the allocation of $95 billion to help Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. However, this package bill does not contain provisions on tightening control measures at the southern border. On February 15, the House of Representatives went on a two-week break until the end of February, without voting on the bill.
