Military aid to Ukraine 'ground to a halt'; US funding over: Kirby
While Congress still contemplates support for Ukraine, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby announces that all military aid to Ukraine has been suspended.
While Congress still contemplates support for Ukraine, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby announced that all military aid to Ukraine has been suspended.
“We have issued the last drawdown package that we had funding to support, and that’s why it’s critical that Congress move on that national security supplemental request,” Kirby said, noting that US military support for Ukraine has "ground to a halt."
This comes right after White House and Senate negotiators revealed that they were on the verge of finalizing a comprehensive deal for a supplemental bill aimed at funding aid to Ukraine and US national security measures, including enhanced border security.
"We are very close, we're dealing with the last one or two items, but we're working productively with a shared focus on getting to an agreement," Senator Kyrsten Sinema stated in an exclusive interview for local news broadcaster KGUN 9.
Sinema revealed that she anticipates a draft text of the bill to be available for other lawmakers to review shortly. This development comes amid mounting concerns over the urgency of providing aid to Ukraine and "Israel", two key US allies.
Read more: Deal on US aid to Ukraine edges closer: Senator
Drawdown authority exploited and capped
The last military package Joe Biden allocated to Ukraine was worth $200 million drawn from the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which does not rely on congressional approval.
The package included air defense system munition, ammo for high mobility artillery rocket systems, mine clearing equipment, tank ammo, additional artillery, missiles, anti-armor rockets, vehicles and water trailers, more than 12 million small arms ammunition and grenades, demolition munitions, and finally, spare parts for maintenance equipment.
Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCloud later said in a letter obtained by Sputnik that the US will run out of Ukraine aid funding on December 30 after it completes a transfer of $1.07 billion to replenish US stocks of weapons sent to Ukraine.
According to a spokesperson from the Pentagon, there is still $4.4 billion of the "restored" presidential drawdown authority earmarked for Ukraine. This amount serves as a credit, resulting from the Pentagon's acknowledgment that it had unintentionally omitted the proper quantity of military equipment in previous aid packages for Ukraine. McCloud emphasized that, without approval for fresh funding, the US can only deliver one more additional aid package to Ukraine before the year concludes.
However, earlier in January, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, said the PDA would not be sending "big tranches into Ukraine".
Ukraine's frustration with its funders
Meanwhile, Congress is still inherently divided, and the European Union still debates its direction and the mobilization of all its capabilities, especially as Ukraine has not met military expectations despite a large abundance of funds.
Josep Borrell warned against a victorious Russia, saying, "And if we don't change course rapidly if we don't mobilize all our capacities, it will let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin win the war in Ukraine."
"The important thing is what we can do in order to avoid Russia winning the war. What are we ready to do? Are we really ready to do everything it takes? This is the question that we have to put ourselves," Borrell was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba slammed the current Western reality in the context of the war, saying, "Europe doesn’t know how to fight wars. Unfortunately, our friends spent too much time deliberating on how and when to ramp up their production of weapons and ammunition."
Read more: UK weapons stockpile reduced to 'nothing': The Times