‘If Putin Thinks He Can Outlast Us, He Is Wrong; We Will Have Another Package of Aid for Ukraine Soon’
Aid for the war effort was removed from legislation over the weekend
Although lawmakers were able to pass legislation over the weekend which funded the federal government and avoided a government shutdown, it was at a cost of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy first stripping any new US support for the war in Ukraine out of the bill.
That's left the White House and its allies to press for new legislation to ensure that Ukraine continues to receive assistance it requires as it attempts to fight off Russian leader Vladimir Putin's invasion.
President Biden not only has marshalled US aid to Ukraine, but bolstered a large international coalition of other countries which has been offering military and other assistance since Russian forces first began their full-scale incursion in February 2022.
However, McCarthy's actions over the weekend puts further US assistance in doubt for the first time since the war began.
A number of far-right Republican members of the House have been calling for an end to aid to Ukraine.
“There is strong, very strong international coalition behind Ukraine. And if Putin thinks he can outlast us, he’s wrong. He’s wrong,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday during the regular press briefing. “And so we will have another package of aid for Ukraine soon to signal our continued support for the brave people of Ukraine, and so that’s our message. If he thinks he can outlast us, that is Mr. Putin, we believe he’s wrong.”
Jean-Pierre also criticized any attempts to link additional money for Ukraine with the Republican priority of border security.
“So look, I think the American people are fed up. They're fed up of the political games, the political stunts that House Republicans are doing, on our national security and also our government,” she said.
US support for Ukraine has an important investment for relatively modest spending, according to a columnist for the Washington Post who once advised Republican candidates for president on foreign affairs.
“For a relatively small investment — yes, we’re spending tens of billions on Ukraine, but all that amounts to roughly one half of 1 percent of the defense spending. And so for a very small investment, very tiny portion of defense spending in particular, we are helping the free people of Ukraine to resist aggression, this evil aggressor that has invaded their country, and in the process we’re helping them to devastate the Russian war machine,” said Max Boot. “They are inflicting the kind of losses that Russia has not seen since World War II, and that is degrading dramatically one of the most anti-American, one of the most threatening countries in the world that we ourselves face.
“And so, Ukrainians are fighting our battle for us and we don’t have to risk a single American soldier. It is a tremendous investment and it would be the height of folly to cut them off,” he added.
The new uncertainty over the future of US support for Ukraine has not gone unnoticed by political leaders in Kyiv.
“We need to see whether the United States is responsible for democracy in the world, whether it remains a country that supports democracy, or whether it is a country that will stand by and watch as the authoritarian states seize more and more territory,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said through a translator.
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