The top U.S. general overseeing military operations in Europe warned lawmakers Wednesday that the war in Ukraine has reached a decisive moment, with Russia expected to hold a 10-1 advantage on artillery shells \u201cwithin weeks\u201d unless the United States approves additional military support for the government in Kyiv.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe severity of this moment cannot be overstated,\u201d Gen. Christopher Cavoli said while testifying before the House Armed Services Committee. Ukraine will run out of artillery shells and air-defense munitions without additional U.S. support, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe side that can\u2019t shoot back loses,\u201d said Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command. \u201cThe stakes are very high.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stark assessment came as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has refused to hold a vote on a national security spending package that includes about $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, and additional money for Pacific initiatives and other priorities.<\/p>\n
The Senate passed a $95.3 billion bill in February, but Johnson has said he won\u2019t consider that measure as fellow conservatives opposed to additional spending on Ukraine have threatened to end his speakership if he does. Instead, he has signaled an intent to introduce alternative legislation as soon as this month but has not said when it could be put to a vote.<\/p>\n
Cavoli\u2019s remarks were the latest by a senior U.S. official warning Congress that it must move on providing more aid to Ukraine if Russia\u2019s battlefield advances are to be stopped. Others have said they foresee an array of grim possibilities if the aid is not approved, including the likelihood of massive Ukrainian casualties in the best-case scenario and a collapse of Ukrainian front lines in the worst.<\/p>\n
Cavoli told lawmakers that Russia \u201crepresents a chronic threat\u201d and has turned to China, North Korea, and Iran for support to challenge existing international norms while forming \u201cinterlocking strategic partnerships.\u201d He called the issue \u201cprofoundly integral\u201d to U.S. national security interests, and said that while European allies have made advances in bolstering their own security, U.S. leadership is required.<\/p>\n
Celeste Wallander, a senior Pentagon official, appeared alongside Cavoli during the hearing and said that the Biden administration\u2019s goal of delivering a strategic defeat to Russian President Vladimir Putin remains. China, she said, is watching how the United States behaves in meeting its commitments to allies and partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing this out of self-interests, out of American national security interests, as well as \u2014 of course \u2014 the admiration that we Americans feel for Ukraine,\u201d Wallander said. \u201cBut in the end, we are doing this so that Americans can be secure at home and abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers on Wednesday remained split on additional funding for Ukraine, though the measure is expected to pass the House with some Republican votes if it is brought for a vote.<\/p>\n
Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) said that while NATO was created to stop Russian expansionism, Germany, France and others in Europe have not paid their \u201cdues\u201d by meeting a commitment to NATO to spend 2 percent of their own gross domestic product on defense. Ukraine, meanwhile, has not presented a plan for how it will win the war, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to start thinking about three priorities for a change: America, Americans and American interests,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) also called out continued shortfalls in NATO allies\u2019 spending on their own defense. It was \u201cpathetic\u201d that just 11 out of NATO\u2019s then-30 member alliance met their commitments to spend 2 percent, he said. While that number soon will reach 20 of 32, he said, \u201cthe tyranny of low expectations\u201d has infected national security discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re asking us to go to the American people again and again,\u201d Waltz said of funding security in Europe. \u201cWe\u2019ll be having this same conversation at this posture hearing \u2026 next year: \u2018American people, dig deeper in your pockets because European politicians can\u2019t and won\u2019t get their people to dig deeper into their pockets.\u2019 It\u2019s a good deal for them. It\u2019s a bad deal for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.) countered, saying that while some Republicans have criticized President Biden and European nations for not doing more to help Ukraine, it is Johnson who is holding up the bipartisan effort to support Kyiv.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeneral Cavoli, you termed this as \u2018extremely serious.\u2019 You said that the severity of this moment \u2014 this moment \u2014 cannot be overstated,\u201d Keating said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard the name \u2018Biden\u2019 again, and \u2018Biden\u2019 again, yet we\u2019re here right now in this Congress with our responsibility and one person \u2014 one person! \u2014 is holding this up,\u201d Keating said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said that Johnson has a choice to make, and she accepts that it may cost him the speakership. She noted that there is a petition on the House floor that would allow the aid package to pass with support with just a few Republicans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what leadership is,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the big-boy pants and making tough choices.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The top U.S. general overseeing military operations in Europe warned lawmakers Wednesday that the war in Ukraine has reached a decisive moment, with Russia expected to hold a 10-1 advantage on artillery shells \u201cwithin weeks\u201d unless the United States approves additional military support for the government in Kyiv. \u201cThe severity of this moment cannot be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2987","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\/2987","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=2987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}