The U.S. State Department has announced a $250 million Ukraine military aid package, its final package for the calendar year, as a request for a much larger package remains held up in Congress.
“The aid is part of ‘previously directed drawdowns for Ukraine’, Blinken said, adding that the package includes air defense munitions, rockets, 155mm and 105mm artillery shells, and ‘over 15 million rounds’ of small-arms ammunition.
Earlier this month, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warned that the U.S. ‘will have no more replenishment authority available’ unless Congress authorizes new Ukraine aid without delay.
‘It is imperative that Congress act swiftly, as soon as possible, to advance our national security interests by helping Ukraine defend itself and secure its future’, Blinken said on Wednesday. A similar statement came from the Pentagon, urging Congress to take action ‘as soon as possible... to ensure that our support for Ukraine can continue’.
The Ukrainian military is bracing for 2024 as its much-anticipated summer counteroffensive failed to win any significant ground this year. Kiev’s forces took heavy casualties and lost much of the valuable Western-supplied tanks and other equipment while trying to break through thick Russian minefields and fortified positions.
Meanwhile, the Russian forces appear to have gone on the offensive, most recently ejecting the Ukrainian troops from Maryinka, a key stronghold to the west of Donetsk”. -RT
Given that the Kremlin has been signaling through diplomatic channels that it’s open to a ceasefire agreement and the U.S. seems to be struggling to assemble additional funding for the Ukrainian regime, it'd be in Kiev's best interest to adjust its expectations of achieving total victory over Moscow and instead take up a defensive posture that would allow the Ukrainians to conserve resources and eventually bring the Russians to the negotiating table.