Long-awaited aid to Ukraine no 'silver bullet'

WASHINGTON — The United States is the first to acknowledge that its long-awaited $61 billion aid package for Ukraine is not a "silver bullet".

It came as Washington rushed to send ammunition, weapons and other war supplies to Kyiv, after US President Joe Biden signed a much-delayed bill to support the ally.

The final approval of the legislation, which includes $61 billion for Kyiv out of the total $95 billion in funding, came after months of political wrangling as Ukrainian forces ran short of ammunition and suffered battlefield setbacks.

"I just signed into law the national security package that was passed by the House of Representatives this weekend, and by the Senate yesterday," Biden said on Wednesday, adding he is "making sure the shipments start right away, in the next few hours".

Minutes after Biden spoke, the Pentagon announced a $1 billion package for Kyiv using the new funding, including air defense munitions, artillery rounds, ammunition for HIMARS precision rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and armored vehicles.

Noting the aid package "will make a difference", national security adviser Jake Sullivan, however, warned "there is no silver bullet in this conflict".

The US has been a key military backer of Ukraine, committing tens of billions of dollars in security assistance after Russia launched its special military operation in 2022.

But a squabbling Congress had not approved large-scale funding for Kyiv for nearly a year and a half.

The latest bill was passed after months of acrimonious debate among lawmakers over how or even whether to help Ukraine.

A similar legislation passed the Senate in February.

Garret Martin, senior professorial lecturer at the American University's School of International Service in Washington, said the delay by US lawmakers in passing the aid package "had a cost".

"The aid can shore up Ukraine, but it's not a magic wand that could fix all the challenges they face."

The package finally sailed through Congress despite some vociferous opposition.

"The US debt goes up by another $61 billion, which is a lot of money for Americans that need the money," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said in a recent interview.

"Government has sent billions to Ukraine while completely neglecting the historic crisis at our border," Florida Representative Byron Donalds wrote in a post on X.

David Stockman, a former US congressman who was director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Ronald Reagan administration, called the aid package the "final straw".

'Dreadful grip'

"The dreadful grip of the UniParty (Democrats and Republicans) on national security policy has finally produced sheer madness in a single package," Stockman wrote.

"It is bad enough that there is not an iota of informed consideration behind any of this. But what is really alarming is that every single House Democrat (210) voted in favor of $61 billion for the Ukrainian Demolition Derby."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly expressed his gratitude on social media.

The US announced new aid for Ukraine on just one other occasion this year, a $300 million package in March that was only made possible by using money that the Pentagon had saved on other purchases.

The State Department confirmed on Wednesday that the US had secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as part of the March assistance package, fulfilling a long-standing request from Kyiv.

"We did not announce this at the onset in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine at their request," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, adding that the "missiles arrived in Ukraine this month".

Some Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, missiles can hit targets up to 300 kilometers away, and a Defense Department spokesperson confirmed that was the long-range variant supplied to Ukraine.

The White House said last year the US sent a shorter-range variant of ATACMS that can travel 165 km.

Heng Weili in New York contributed to this story.

Agencies - China Daily