Could Biden Keep Arming Ukraine as Pentagon's Ukraine Funds Dry Out?
© AP Photo / Matt Rourke
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President Joe Biden has called upon American lawmakers to approve a new multi-billion package for Ukraine as funding for Kiev is drying out. Why has the Ukraine military aid become a sacred cow for the US establishment, and is it capable of keeping it uninterrupted?
Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord has warned US lawmakers that the Department of Defense (DoD) has roughly $5.4 billion for Kiev in the presidential drawdown account and $1.6 billion left from the $25.9 billion in the congressionally approved Ukraine package. He warned that the US is swiftly running out of money while it has to replenish its own military stockpiles.
The warning came after the GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed a stopgap measure to avoid the government shutdown which did not include funding for Ukraine. On Sunday, President Joe Biden fretted and fumed over the delay: "We cannot under any circumstances allow America's support for Ukraine to be interrupted," he said.
So, why the rush?
"Well, it's a figment of Joe Biden and Victoria Nuland’s imagination," Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the Office of the US Secretary of Defense, told Sputnik. "It's their fanaticism in that direction. The American people don't necessarily support it. They don't want war with Russia. They see that's where this thing is heading. And they are concerned that we are on a slippery slope and it's now being reflected in what we are now seeing in Congress in terms of potentially future assistance to Ukraine. I don't know that it will all be cut off immediately, but I think it's going to be cut back significantly in the months to come."
Republican opposition to Ukraine aid appears to have been gaining momentum in Washington. Last Thursday, roughly half of House Republicans voted to exclude $300 million for Ukraine from the Pentagon spending bill. Even though the money was later approved in a separate proposal to fund Kiev, the trend has triggered concerns in the US mainstream press.
On Saturday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did not include $6 billion for Ukraine (part of a new $24 billion package for Kiev requested by the White House) in a stopgap measure to keep the government running until November 17.
It appears that members of congress did not want to clash over McCarthy's move as the spending deadline loomed and the measure was quickly passed. "I support being able to provide the weapons to Ukraine, but America comes first," McCarthy explained to a US broadcaster on October 1. "More Americans are dying on our border than Americans are dying in Ukraine."
"There was no funding for Ukraine in this latest continuing resolution that kept the US government open simply because Congress, which includes the House and Senate, could not agree on a package and on terms on continued Ukraine funding in the latest Defense Department authorization bill. In that case, that stymied any progression toward approval of the Defense Department funding for Ukraine. The continuing resolution did increase funding for home domestic crises that we have here in terms of flooding and fires that we recently had in Hawaii," Maloof explained.
"So it became in effect an ‘America First’ package for a change. And rather than defending the borders of Ukraine so much, the notion was to try and look to defend our own borders. But this package did not include additional funding to the Border Patrol either. So there's a lot more to be done. This was just to keep the government open, to pay its bills for the time being and to keep agencies running. Otherwise, about a million or so federal workers would have been out of a job or furloughed, as we say. So people are getting tired of it. I know the federal workers are, because we go through this every year. And now the money for Ukraine that was left over is quickly dwindling down to nothing. The initial $25 billion package or $26 billion package for ammunition and resupply for Ukraine has run out," the former Pentagon analyst continued.
It's Unclear How Biden Will Continue to Arm Ukraine
Meanwhile, the Pentagon's Ukraine money may end very soon, given the way the Ukrainians are burning through all of this ammunition, according to Maloof. He expects that any ability to replenish Kiev is probably going to end by November 17.
"By November 17, unless a continuing resolution or the authorization for funding the Pentagon is approved, everything stops. We may even have another government shutdown by then," the analyst projected.
Under these circumstances, it's not clear how the US government is planning to ensure continuous help for Ukraine, he noted.
"If the funding isn't there, then unless less the president takes real drastic action and wants to basically declare martial law here in the United States, it's just not going to happen," Maloof said. "If Congress doesn't approve additional funding, it's not going to happen. Now, as I said, there may be a little bit, maybe for humanitarian purposes, but I think far less on the other side of military and more kinetic actions."
Neither Americans Nor Europeans Want War With Russia
Both Americans and Europeans seem to be getting tired of Washington's proxy war in Ukraine, per the former Pentagon analyst. September polls indicated that 41% of respondents believe Washington is sending too much aid to Kiev. When it comes to their political affiliations, 62% Republican voters said the US aid to Ukraine is excessive, with 17% of Dems sharing the same stance. In July, 55% of US respondents said Congress should not approve more funding for Kiev.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, the Slovakian parliamentary elections resulted in the victory of ex-Prime Minister Robert Fico, who had promised to halt Bratislava's military aid for Kiev.
"Even the Europeans have had enough," said Maloof. "And now you're seeing reflected, like in the Slovakian elections that were just held, that Slovakia, which is a member of NATO, has decided they're not going to be involved with assisting Ukraine any longer. So, that's pretty significant. So we're beginning to see European support beginning to frazzle on the edges, and it could become even greater as the months go by, especially as you enter into what is projected now to be a very cold winter. So we're dealing with some monumental issues and it's all coming to a head rather rapidly. And I think people are really waking up to this reality. And I think that Zelensky has nothing to show for his gamble. It was a gamble. And he believed Joe Biden. If he had talked to any of us for five minutes, we would have discouraged him from ever believing that guy."
1 October 2023, 17:10 GMT
