Vote to resume US military aid sparks relief in Ukraine

The Ukrainian lieutenant was in firing position on the Eastern Front, commanding an artillery unit relying on M777 howitzers and other big guns supplied by the United States, as American lawmakers met to Washington to decide whether its cannons would be forced to silence for lack of ammunition. .

But when the lieutenant returned to his base Saturday evening, he received the news he and millions of Ukrainians had prayed to hear.

I had just entered the building after a shift change when the guys informed me that the Ukraine aid package had finally been approved by Congress, the lieutenant, identified only by his first name, said. Oleksandr, in accordance with military protocol. We hope this help reaches us as quickly as possible.

The decision by U.S. lawmakers to resume military assistance after months of costly delay was greeted with a collective sigh of relief and an outpouring of gratitude in a battered and bloodied Ukraine. It may have been late, soldiers and civilians said, but American support is about more than bullets and bombs.

It offered something just as important: hope.

Immediately after the congressional vote, Ukrainian citizens took to social media to express their gratitude and joy, posting American flag memes mixing Ukrainian imagery with American symbols like the Statue of Liberty.

I have tears in my eyes, Anton Gerashchenko, founder of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, a research group, said in a message. So much suffering, so much pain. So many lost friends and wonderful people during those horrible war years. There is now hope of saving more lives among those who are still alive.

The $60 billion military assistance package approved by the House is expected to be voted on by the Senate and signed by President Biden as early as Tuesday. The Pentagon said it could resume sending weapons to Ukraine within days thanks to a well-established logistics network.

Although the Pentagon has not released details of what will be included in the first assistance package, the United States has provided much of the ammunition that Ukrainian forces desperately need, including shells for artillery and precision rockets for long-range strikes.

Ukrainian officials said it would likely also help replenish Ukraine's short- and medium-range air defense systems, including missiles capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles that are being used to devastating effect on Ukraine's energy grid.

Some items, such as artillery shells, could begin arriving relatively quickly, but Ukrainian commanders and military analysts have warned that it would be weeks before U.S. aid begins to have a direct impact on the fighting.

The situation on the front line will therefore likely continue to deteriorate during this period, particularly if Russian forces intensify their attacks to take advantage of the limited window before new US aid arrives, Institute analysts say. for the Study of War, a research organization based in Washington. group, wrote this weekend.

Lt. Oleksandr said the Russians recently appeared determined to pour as many resources into the battle as quickly as possible to take advantage of Ukraine's depleted arsenal.

The Russians are sparing nothing, neither aerial bombs nor artillery, he added. They can fire up to two or three lancets per day for each of our cannons, while one lancet costs more than the cannon itself, he said, referring to one of the most expensive Russian drones. more sophisticated.

Franz-Stefan Gady, a senior researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that even with American assistance, the air defense situation will remain difficult for many months. However, renewed aid from the United States will allow European countries to increase their own weapons production, he said.

Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian army and a fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based research group, wrote that resupplying air defenses and artillery would be Ukraine's top priority, but that the bill authorized other critical and less visible measures. support. This includes spare parts for US tanks and armored vehicles, drones, mortars, radios, engineering equipment and the array of equipment needed on the modern battlefield, he wrote on his Substack page.

Since U.S. aid stopped flowing to Ukraine this year, Russia has been able to seize more than 360 square kilometers, or about 139 square miles, of land, according to the Institute for the Study of the war.

As Ukraine has been forced to turn to defense, Russia's arsenal has been bolstered by the delivery of missiles and drones from Iran and North Korea, while support from China has helped Moscow to mitigate the impact of sanctions, thereby helping the Kremlin convert its economy to a more economical one. war footing.

Russia has also managed to replace more than 315,000 troops killed or wounded in combat, according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military is now 15 percent larger than it was when it invaded Ukraine, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command, said in testimony before Congress before the vote. SATURDAY.

Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is preparing the ground for a larger offensive in late spring or early summer.

Although the Russians have so far failed to exploit Ukraine's deficit in men and weapons to achieve a major breakthrough, military analysts warn they could still make significant progress in the coming weeks .

Russian forces continue to advance west of the town of Avdiivka, around Lieutenant Oleksandr's firing position on Saturday. They are also shelling the strategically important hilltop fortress of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine.

If Kremlin forces manage to seize significant heights in the region, an agglomeration of the largest cities in the Donbass region still under Ukrainian control would be threatened.

At the same time, Russia continued to hit cities across the country with drone and long-range missile strikes, destroying homes, port infrastructure and energy facilities.

Ukraine's allies have said they are racing to find more sophisticated air defense systems, like the U.S.-made Patriots, located across Europe to help kyiv, but the Ukrainians expect Moscow try to do as much damage as possible before these systems arrive.

As they have done day after day for more than two years, rescuers from Odessa on the Black Sea to Sumy, near Ukraine's northern border with Russia, rushed to extract people from the rubble from bombed buildings during the House vote Saturday.

But this day is still a little different, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his address to the nation Saturday evening. Today we received the long-awaited decision: the American support package that we are fighting so hard for.

Mr. Zelensky said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press that the aid would support Ukraine and send a powerful signal. He added that this meant Ukraine would not become a second Afghanistan.

The Kremlin, which U.S. lawmakers say is orchestrating a sophisticated campaign to shape American public opinion and undermine support for Ukraine, responded with a mix of bluster and fury.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov said military assistance would only contribute to Ukraine's ruin. If provisions of the legislation allowing the United States to seize billions in frozen Russian central bank assets to finance Ukraine's reconstruction are used, he warned, America will have to answer.

Lt. Col. Oleksii Khilchenko, a 30-year-old Ukrainian brigade commander fighting around Robotyne on the southern front, said the new weapons would allow Ukrainians to fight even more fiercely and with all their courage.

This support from American society will save the lives of our soldiers and sustain them on the entire front line, he said. We will use this aid to strengthen our military and end this war, a war that Russia must lose.

The House vote also boosted the morale of the volunteer army that helped support Ukrainian soldiers throughout the war.

It's a wonderful day today, said Olena Detsel, founder of the volunteer organization Three in a Canoe, which raises funds to meet the urgent needs of soldiers.

The news of financial support from the United States is like a breath of fresh air, she said in a text message. This makes us understand that we are not alone in this fight.

Liubov Sholudko and Gerry Mullany contributed reporting.

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