U.S. money for war in Ukraine drops, pressure on Europe increases | Abroad

John Kirby’s message was clear. According to a spokesman for the Biden administration, almost all US money for Ukraine has been lost. “About 96 percent of the recent $60 billion aid package has now been spent on military and humanitarian aid.

According to Kirby, the U.S. still believes that Ukraine can regain territory from the Russians, although this has been slow in recent times. “The front is moving, but winter is coming. Providing Ukraine with adequate defense systems in the coming months is critical at this time.

America’s newfound support for Ukraine is no longer self-evident because of Republican criticism. Many party members believe that the United States has already paid Ukraine more money than it needs and that Washington’s new aid is no longer conditional.

“Kirby’s words are mainly a political signal,” says Willem Post, an American expert at the Dutch firm Klinkendale. “Last month, Biden offered a new aid package for Ukraine and Israel, worth, among other things, $105 billion, but the US Congress has yet to approve it. The new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, is particularly troubling. Aid to Israel is not a topic of discussion for him, but Ukraine is a different story. Gov. He wants to cut off support for both countries in the same package.Biden is impatient and wants to speed it up, hence Kirby’s statement.Congress has until November 17 to approve the fiscal budget.

Congress is expected to eventually back the new package with a majority, according to the Post. This includes aid to Ukraine. “But the grumbling is growing. Not just among Republicans, but among Democrats as well. “Especially after Ukrainian commander Valery Zalushny’s statements that the war is at a stalemate and that the counteroffensive has stalled.”

see Biden Asks Congress for Billions for Israel and Ukraine

According to Mart de Kruif, former commander of the Dutch Land Forces, the uproar in the US, with presidential elections in exactly a year, is increasing pressure on Europe. “These US elections hang over Ukraine like a dark cloud. Politics is starting to take a hard line, and it’s hard to find unity, especially among Republicans. All of this is working in Moscow’s favor.

The United States is Kiev’s most important military ally. More than $75 billion has already gone that way. De Cruyff says that if a large part of it disappears and that danger exists, the main help will have to come from Europe. “This is definitely a problem in the field of military support. The European defense sector is not running at full speed. New production lines for military equipment are being launched, but it takes a lot of time to get everything up and running 100 percent. So if US aid disappears, you will definitely see a decline in support for Ukraine. Who benefits from this? Three guesses The Russian economy is rapidly becoming a war economy.

The war against the Russians is creating a huge hole in the Ukrainian budget. More than half of Ukrainian spending goes to the defense sector to fight Russia, which invaded and seized much of eastern Ukraine in February last year. Next year, a deficit of nearly 1.6 trillion hryvnias, about 40 billion euros, is expected.