Joe Biden’s administration has warned Ukraine of a ‘pivotal moment’ in its war against Russia, sources for The Washington Post say.
Despite promises to back Ukraine “as long as it takes,” Biden officials say recent aid packages from Congress and America’s allies represent Kyiv’s best chance to decisively change the course of the war. Many conservatives in the Republican-led House have vowed to pull back support, and Europe’s long-term appetite for funding the war effort remains unclear, WP says.
“'As long as it takes’ pertains to the amount of conflict,” said one senior administration official WP spoke to. “It doesn’t pertain to the amount of assistance.”
“The war in recent months has become a slow grind in eastern Ukraine, with neither side gaining the upper hand. Biden officials believe the critical juncture will come this spring, when Russia is expected to launch an offensive and Ukraine mounts a counteroffensive in an effort to reclaim lost territory,” The Washington Post says.
American military analysts and planners have argued that it is unrealistic to simultaneously defend Bakhmut and launch a spring counteroffensive to retake what the United States views as more critical territory.
The Biden administration is also working with Congress to approve another $10 billion in direct budget assistance to Kyiv and is expected to announce another large military assistance package in the next week and the imposition of more sanctions on the Kremlin around the same time, WP says.
American officials concede they are likely to provide Ukraine with more sophisticated air power as the war drags on — or at least give a green light to the transfer of F-16s from other powers, Financial Times says.
The Biden administration has given its Ukrainian counterparts another reason for not sending them much-wanted long-range missiles: the US is concerned it wouldn’t have enough for itself, according to Politico. That worry, along with the administration’s existing concern that Ukraine would use the 190-mile range missiles to attack deep inside Russian territory and cross what the Kremlin has said is a red line, is why the US is not shipping ATACMS missiles to the frontlines any time soon.
