RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany \u2014 Pentagon leaders vowed Tuesday to stand by Ukraine in its war to repel Russian forces despite deepening questions about whether the Biden administration can overcome Washington\u2019s political gridlock to free billions of dollars in additional U.S. military aid.<\/p>\n
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, following talks here with senior officials from more than 40 partner nations, described the conflict\u2019s dramatic global stakes as Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s two-year-old invasion remains mired in a costly stalemate.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, Ukraine\u2019s survival is in danger, and America\u2019s security is at risk,\u201d Austin told reporters. \u201cThey don\u2019t have a day to waste, and we don\u2019t have a day to spare either. So I leave here today fully determined to keep U.S. security assistance and ammunition flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Austin cited a grim array of costs to Moscow from its campaign to subjugate Ukraine: 315,000 Russian troops killed or wounded; 20 of its medium- and large-sized naval vessels damaged or destroyed; more than $1 trillion in unrealized economic growth. He also spotlighted ongoing arms donations for Ukraine from European allies, including a new Czech-led initiative to procure 800,000 artillery shells.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s meeting, the 20th gathering of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, came as Ukrainian leaders make urgent appeals for additional military supplies, particularly artillery shells and air defense interceptors, that they say are necessary to protect civilians and prevent Russia from making additional advances.<\/p>\n
Austin and Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks beforehand with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, who became the country\u2019s top commander in a military shake-up last month.<\/p>\n
Yet the meeting also underscored the uncomfortable dynamic the Biden administration must navigate as it attempts to lead the international effort to sustain Ukraine\u2019s fight without being able to provide concrete assurances about its own future support.<\/p>\n
Since Putin\u2019s invasion, the United States has ranked as Ukraine\u2019s biggest military supporter by far. But despite months of White House entreaties, Congress has yet to pass President Biden\u2019s request for $60 billion in additional security aid, part of a larger package that would also include assistance to Israel for its war in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
While some lawmakers are now attempting to get around the refusal by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hold a vote on the bill, it remains far from clear whether Biden\u2019s proposal can overcome skepticism among certain Republicans.<\/p>\n
After months without new U.S. donations, officials last week announced that the Pentagon will provide Ukraine a new arms shipment worth $300 million made possible by unforeseen contract savings. But military leaders have warned that further dipping into U.S. arsenals without new funding to restore donated arms would endanger American security.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian forces meanwhile are rationing artillery at the front and scaling back attempts to shoot down air attacks directed at Ukrainian cities. Against that gloomy backdrop, U.S. officials foresee a range of bleak scenarios if the administration\u2019s supplemental bill remains blocked, including a potential collapse of Ukrainian lines.<\/p>\n
The uncertainty is stoked further as Biden\u2019s race to secure a second term heats up ahead of November\u2019s presidential elections. Former president Donald Trump, his likely Republican opponent, has declined to commit to assisting Ukraine in the future and has said that any continued support should come in the form of loans rather than donations.<\/p>\n
Austin cited broad support in both parties for continuing aid to Ukraine despite the holdup in Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m optimistic that we will see some action moving forward,\u201d he said. \u201cBut again, this is a thing that you can\u2019t absolutely predict. We\u2019ll continue to work closely with Congress and our international partners to ensure that Ukraine receives the support it needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Europe, U.S. allies are racing to revitalize their own defense industries and reconsidering their own risk tolerance as they mull additional donations to Ukraine. Some of those allies are likewise attempting to downplay the impact of uncertainty surrounding U.S. assistance, chalking the situation up to politics.<\/p>\n
Asked about the U.S. impasse over Ukraine, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, whose coalition government has faced its own internal challenges, referenced the \u201cspecial aspect\u201d of America\u2019s political system.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we have to deal with it and we will deal with it,\u201d he told reporters on the margins of the Ramstein meeting, saying that European countries had taken steps of their own to bolster their security and military strength. \u201cSo we are doing our homework, and I am sure and I\u2019m convinced the United States will [do] like it used to do before too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Austin and Brown also addressed the Biden administration\u2019s increasingly deep rift with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over that country\u2019s handling of its war against Hamas militants in Gaza.<\/p>\n
National security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday said that Netanyahu\u2019s government had agreed to send a team of military, intelligence and humanitarian officials to Washington to discuss U.S. concerns about Israel\u2019s plan to launch a major offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million people have taken shelter, and examine possible alternatives.<\/p>\n
Brown said he has not seen Israel\u2019s blueprint for its planned Rafah offensive. He pointed to the U.S. military\u2019s own history operating in urban environments in the Middle East and said American officials were attempting to share lessons learned from those experiences, including steps to protect civilians.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration has likewise blamed Israel\u2019s government for holding up the delivery of aid in Gaza \u2014 where the United Nations says famine conditions are imminent \u2014 even as it tasks the U.S. military with dropping food aid from cargo planes and building a floating pier to enable deliveries by sea.<\/p>\n
Austin has warned that Israel could end up facing \u201cstrategic defeat\u201d if it fails to adequately protect civilians. According to Palestinian authorities, more than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its response to Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 attacks, which killed some 1,200.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael has a right to defend itself. But there\u2019s also a need to protect the civilians in the battlespace,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd again, the two things aren\u2019t mutually exclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany \u2014 Pentagon leaders vowed Tuesday to stand by Ukraine in its war to repel Russian forces despite deepening questions about whether the Biden administration can overcome Washington\u2019s political gridlock to free billions of dollars in additional U.S. military aid. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, following talks here with senior officials from more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}