US Officials Alarmed at Ukraine's Prospects Without Additional Aid

Facts

• US military officials have again sounded the alarm on Ukraine’s battlefield prospects if Congress cannot agree on additional military spending. The Pentagon argued that unless action is taken soon, Ukraine would be left without its most basic means of defending itself.¹
• Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Tuesday that without additional funds, the US cannot drawdown additional weapons to Ukraine without depleting its own military readiness. He said this ‘prevents us from meeting Ukraine’s most urgent battlefield needs,’ such as ‘artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons, [and] air defense interceptors.’²
• Ryder added it would hinder the US’ ability ‘to provide systems and equipment to meet both their medium- and longer-term requirements and help them sustain systems that we’ve previously provided to them,’ calling for ‘supplemental funding as soon as possible.’²
• This follows a starker warning from White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to lawmakers last week. According to two sources with knowledge of the private meeting, the pair told top Congressional leaders that if they fail to authorize additional Ukraine aid in the coming days, Russia could win the war in a matter of weeks — months at best.³
• Nonetheless, Ryder insisted that despite the lack of supplemental funding, international partners were working to fill the void so that Ukraine has the weapons it needs.²
• Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers said Tuesday that an agreement on US border security combined with roughly $60B in aid to Ukraine could be close to finalized, though they said it would not be announced this week.⁴

Sources: ¹Ukrainska Pravda, ²US Department of Defense, ³NBC and ⁴VOA.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Los Angeles Times. These are now desperate times for Ukraine. Without additional US funding, Ukrainian soldiers may be left without missile defense rockets or basic ammunition to stave off Russia’s invasion. While Ukraine has successfully defended itself for two years, unless more funds are approved, the frontline situation might quickly erode. The US and Ukraine will then have to grapple with the real prospect of Russia winning this war.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by TASS. Aside from the avoidable loss of Ukrainian territory and men throughout this conflict, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed and Kyiv is now losing the war. More money for arms will simply bring about more death and destruction. Ukraine would never have fought this war against Russia without US and EU weapons. Now that these weapons are running dry, Ukraine must accept the reality that Russia will never cease its defense of the Donbas or Crimea.

Predictions