Bloomberg: Ukraine aid from US won’t be approved for a month, maybe longer

18 November 2023 12:02

New US aid for Ukraine risks slipping to mid-December and maybe longer, casting doubt on Washington’s ability to keep up the flow of weapons that both the Biden administration and the Ukrainian government say is vital, Bloomberg reports.

Ukraine’s congressional backers are engaged in a tough battle over an expansive aid package whose fate is now enmeshed in a partisan fight over border policies and torn from must-pass bills that would prompt swift action.

The soonest Congress could complete negotiations and pass new Ukraine assistance is mid-December, nearly two months after President Joe Biden first requested $61 billion for the country in its war against Russia.

The US has begun restricting the flow of military assistance because of the wait, according to a Defense Department spokeswoman.

Senators in both parties plan to work on a deal in the coming days on an aid package, coupled with border policies, that they can vote on after returning to Washington from the Thanksgiving holiday later this month.

“We need to push ourselves to negotiate over the next week,” Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat with close ties to Biden, said on Thursday.

“The Ukrainians are running out of fuel, weapons and ammunition,” Coons added. Congress must act “on a timeline that’s going to matter.”

With the battlefield settling into a stalemate as the conflict drags toward its third year, once-broad support for Ukraine is showing cracks as the Kremlin bets that it can outlast Kyiv’s backers in the US and Europe.

Republican infighting and hardliner demands threaten to push congressional consideration of the latest tranche of ammunition and weaponry into the new year despite warnings from White House National Security spokesman John Kirby that the US is “near the end of the road” in resources available for Ukraine.

“It’s an active battlefront and our ability to continue to support Ukraine is increasingly in jeopardy,” Kirby said.

Influential congressional supporters of Ukraine said they remain confident of more US assistance. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul said there is “no chance” the aid won’t be approved. “It’s just too important.”

But that will be politically difficult for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is managing a backlash among hardline conservatives over his plan to avert a US government shutdown. Many of those ultra-conservatives also oppose Ukraine assistance, and it would only take a few of them to overthrow Johnson, just as they did his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.

Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican in the hardline Freedom Caucus, warned of “trouble in so-called paradise” if Republican leaders allow a vote on Ukraine aid without meeting ultra-conservative demands on immigration policy changes.

Caliber.Az

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