The 54 foreign countries providing military assistance to Ukraine have spent over $200 billion since the beginning of Moscow’s special military operation, the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) said in a statement on Thursday.
The MoD also said that a group of more than 500 US and NATO space vehicles is working in the interests of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. These include over 70 reconnaissance satellites, with the rest being commercial dual-use vehicles. In addition, more than 20,000 satellite terminals of the Starlink satellite system are available for Kiev.
According to Moscow, a total of 13,500 foreign mercenaries – most of them from Europe – arrived in Ukraine to fight for the Zelensky regime. After about 6,000 mercenaries were taken out and more than 5,500 fled, only 1,900 "soldiers of fortune" remain in the special operation zone.
The statement comes a day after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby admitted that there is no more US money to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
"We have given now Ukraine the last security assistance package that we have funds to support right before New Year's, right after Christmas. And we've got to get support from Congress so we can continue to do that."
He was referring to the 54th Presidential Drawdown Authority package announced on December 27 and valued at up to $250 million. The package included additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missiles Systems (NASAMS) as well as more Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (GMLRS) for the US-supplied M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).
When asked whether weapon supplies to Ukraine will stop should there be no congressional action, Kirby said "They would have to.”
“The President [Joe Biden] signed out the last security assistance package for which we had replenishment authority funds. That's it. We need the supplemental [package] passed so that we can provide additional security assistance to Ukraine,” the White House National Security Council spokesman said. He warned that "Absent supplemental funding, there's no other magical pot to dip into to try to get support for [Kiev]."
The US and its NATO allies have been providing military support to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian military operation. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev, stressing that such moves only fuel the conflict, adding that Western military equipment will be eventually destroyed. Moscow also cautioned that NATO countries “are playing with fire” by providing Kiev with arms.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, for his part, has emphasized that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. According to him, the US and NATO are directly involved in the Ukraine conflict by supplying weapons and training soldiers in the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries.
Moscow likewise has stressed that the Kiev regime is using mercenaries as “cannon fodder”, and that the Russian military will continue to target them all across Ukraine.