The much-needed cash arrives after a long delay. Matthew Partridge reports
Following “a political logjam that had lasted for months”, the US Senate has finally approved a $95bn bill to deliver security aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region, with “overwhelming bipartisan support”, says James Politi in the Financial Times. The approval, a result of the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson changing his mind and allowing it to come up for a vote, represents a “legislative victory” for Biden. Ukraine should start receiving aid “within days”.
but the immediate infusion of aid should be “enough to fend off a larger-scale Russian offensive that the head of Ukraine’s military-intelligence service has said he expects in June”. Worries remain that a Trump victory in the US presidential elections later this year could force Ukraine “to accept either defeat or a huge territorial loss in 2025”; it’s clear this package has at least prevented this happening during Biden’s term of office.
A critical moment
The $61bn for Ukraine comes at a “critical moment” in the war, says Owen Matthews in The Spectator. The delaying tactics by Republicans in the House, which held up the aid for six months, has led to a “desperate shortage of artillery shells” – the Russians have been firing up to six shells for every one the Ukrainians shot back. A lack of missile defences has also seen Russian ballistic and cruise missiles “almost entirely destroy the electricity generation infrastructure of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, and severely damaged that of Kyiv”, leaving “hundreds of civilians dead”. More importantly, the delay has taught the Ukrainians that their security “is dependent on the political whims of their allies, and could once again evaporate”.
Thankfully, the benefits from the American aid should be felt nearly immediate
