Biden adviser Sullivan: Kiev will have enough new aid package for a couple of weeks
Washington will transfer a new $300 million military aid package to Kiev. In particular, it will include artillery shells and GMLRS guided missiles for the HIMARS MLRS. The administration called such assistance an "emergency package", which will last "perhaps only for a couple of weeks." They also expressed hope that the US Congress would still approve Biden's request to allocate $61.4 billion to Ukraine.
The United States will provide Ukraine with a new $300 million military aid package, which will include artillery shells and guided missiles, Jake Sullivan, assistant to President Joe Biden for national security, said at a briefing.
"Today, on behalf of President Joe Biden, I am announcing an emergency military assistance package, including $300 million worth of weapons and equipment to meet some of the urgent needs of Ukraine. This is possible due to unforeseen savings within the framework of contracts, agreements that the US Department of Defense has reached to replenish the equipment that we have already sent to Ukraine," he said.
"These munitions will allow Ukrainian guns to fire for a period of time, but this is only a short period," the official admitted. He added that such volumes are not enough to meet the needs of Kiev on the battlefield. Today's aid will be enough "absolutely not for months," but "perhaps only for a couple of weeks." Sullivan noted that the Washington administration still expects that the American Congress will approve the allocation of additional assistance to Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder clarified that the package will include portable Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, additional ammunition for HIMARS, 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells, 84 anti-tank missile systems, cartridges, explosives, spare parts for military equipment and other means. He also called the supply of aid to Kiev due to savings on old contracts an "unsustainable way" of support and stressed that the American Ministry of Defense needs additional funding.
Without money
On March 12, Politico newspaper, citing sources, reported that the US Department of Defense has not yet received money to replace the weapons provided to Kiev. At the same time, to date, the Pentagon has supplied weapons worth a total of $ 10 billion to the war zone.
"If we are unable to obtain new funding, to a certain extent it will depend on our own readiness to use our own reserves," the representative of the ministry noted.
The shortage arises from the difference in the cost of weapons sent to Ukraine and their replacement: for example, if the army sends old ammunition that is no longer being produced, it can replace them with a newer version that costs more.
"Ukraine will agree in a year"
CIA Director William Burns said that without additional military assistance from the United States, Ukraine will be forced to enter into peace talks with Russia on Moscow's terms in a year.
"He (Russian President Vladimir Putin. - "Newspaper.Ru") is interested in such negotiations, where he can dictate terms. I think that, without additional help, this is the future that Ukraine can expect in a year from now," Burns said.
He expressed confidence that without the help of the United States, Ukraine will have to retreat even more and surrender territories to Russia.
On March 12, the draft federal budget for 2025 was published on the White House website. The Biden administration included in the document a previous request to the US Congress to allocate $61.4 billion to help Ukraine.
Last week, Biden delivered his annual State of the Union address, the first topic of his speech was the military conflict in Ukraine. He compared the current moment in history with 1941 and called on Congress to quickly approve assistance to Kiev so that it could "stop Putin." The American president noted that Ukrainians "do not ask for American soldiers," and added that the American military does not take part in hostilities in Ukraine. Biden noted that he was "determined to continue in the same spirit" and not send them there any further.
Leonid Tsvetaev