White House warns Congress that arms money for Ukraine is running out
The White House warned Monday that the United States would run out of money to send weapons to Ukraine by the end of the year if Congress does not approve additional emergency aid for the war that has been quashed by the funding debates.
The warning, delivered in a blunt letter against House Speaker Mike Johnson was the Biden administration’s latest salvo against a growing number of Republicans tired of bearing the costs and political capital of a war that could drag on for years.
To date, Congress has approved $111 billion for Ukraine and critical U.S. national security needs, according to White House Budget Director Shlanda D. Young. In October, the government asked for another $61.4 billion to continue helping the government in Kiev fend off Russia.
But she said about 60 percent of the money approved so far — $67 billion — remained in the United States, largely to support U.S. arms makers that have ramped up production over the past year to meet Ukraine’s insatiable demand.
Without more money to buy and deliver additional weapons, Ms. Young said, the loss of American aid “will put pressure on Ukraine on the battlefield, jeopardizing not only the gains Ukraine has made but also the likelihood of Russian military victories increase.”
“We are out of money — and running out of time,” Ms. Young wrote in the letter, which was also sent to Hakeem Jeffries, the House of Representatives’ top Democrat, and the Senate’s two Democratic and Republican leaders.
She added: “This is not a problem for next year. Now is the time to help a democratic Ukraine fight Russian aggression.”
The past few months, like aid has decreased and Ukraine has struggled to push back Russian forces in a counter-offensive that has largely stalled, allies have openly expressed concern on whether the United States will maintain its support for the nearly two-year war. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is expected to raise the subject again this week during a visit to Washington, and US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spent considerable time in a NATO high-level meeting last week tried to dispel doubts in Europe.
In battlefield interviews, Ukrainian soldiers said the supply of U.S. weapons and other equipment had already begun to dwindle. In a bunker of a frontline artillery unit more than 150 miles north of Avdiivka, eastern Ukraine, soldiers recently watched a screen of Russian armor deployed across enemy lines. They were only allocated twenty shells per day, which meant they could realistically hope to take out two targets.
When the same unit was on the offensive in Kherson last summer, they had five times as much ammunition at their disposal, the soldiers said.
European states, especially Germany, have done so tried to fill the gap with more air defense systems, ammunition and other supplies, but will not be able to meet Ukraine’s demands until the continent’s defense industry gets back on track – a process that will take at least a year, and most likely longer.
According to an American newspaper, five American defense companies would be the largest arms producers in the world in 2022 analysis released Monday from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. But even their revenues fell last year as wartime demands expanded capacity due to labor and supply shortages, the study concluded.
The debate over more war funding is driven by Republicans in Congress who want sweeping changes to the US immigration system, included in a $106 billion aid package, including about $61 billion for Ukraine.
A bipartisan group of senators trying to reach a compromise has agreed to make it harder for migrants to get asylum in the United States, but that proposal has angered some Democrats and left many Republicans unsatisfied. The impasse has held up the overall aid package, and some lawmakers have openly doubted it will be resolved by the end of the year.
“I will not vote for any aid until we secure our border,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. He added: “I will not help Ukraine until we help ourselves.”
The White House has predicted that aid to Ukraine and the rest of the emergency spending plan will be approved by the end of the year. But Ms Young’s letter lays bare the government’s concerns.
The Pentagon has spent 97 percent of the war funding it has received, which totals about $62.3 billion, according to the letter. According to the latest data, almost $45 billion of that went directly to Ukraine The number of weapons of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development have spent another $27.2 billion on economic aid to Ukraine and civilian security assistance such as minefield clearance. Ms. Young said money is “as essential to Ukraine’s survival as military aid.”
“If Ukraine’s economy collapses, they won’t be able to keep fighting,” she wrote. “Putin understands this well.”
Marc Santora contributed reporting from Kiev.