2024-01-29 20:39:46
Barcelona The blocking of the new aid packages from the United States for Ukraine does not only worry Kyiv, it has also set off alarms in NATO offices. The Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, began this Monday an official visit to Washington with which he will try to convince of the need to continue supporting Volodymyr Zelenski’s troops.
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Stoltenberg has met with Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and is scheduled to meet with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, and other congressional leaders on Tuesday. The key to guaranteeing assistance to Ukraine is held by the Republican congressmen, who have a majority in the lower house, and who have been blocking a new aid package for the country for weeks, of 61 billion dollars (about 56 billion euros ).
In early November, President Joe Biden sent Congress an “urgent” request to approve a combined $105 billion in aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the southern border with Mexico. But Republican congressmen want to pass two separate packages, one for Ukraine and one for Israel, and also for that aid to be tied to policies to strengthen control of America’s southern border, a red line for the democrats
In a joint press conference, both Blinken and Stoltenberg referred to this blockade and assured that cutting off the arms tap in Kyiv only strengthens Putin’s army. The head of American diplomacy has stressed that it is “vital” that Congress approves the package, because, if not, “everything that Ukraine has achieved, and that we have helped to achieve, will be in jeopardy”. “In addition – he continued – this would send the wrong message to our adversaries: that we do not take the defense of freedom and democracy seriously.” “We have to make sure it doesn’t happen,” he concluded.
Stoltenberg has used similar arguments. “With a tiny fraction of annual defense spending, the United States has helped Ukraine destroy most of Russia’s combat capability, without putting a single American soldier in harm’s way,” he said. And he warned that “a Russian victory would give wings to Iran, North Korea and China”, which “is not only important for the security of Europe, but also for the security of the United States”. “Helping Ukraine is not charity; it is an investment in our own security – he affirmed -. If we want a just and lasting peace, we must provide Ukraine with more weapons and ammunition. Weapons for Ukraine are the way to peace” , has maintained.
Lack of ammunition
Last week, NATO’s secretary general admitted that the war in Ukraine has become a “battle for ammunition”, admitting that it is “absolutely necessary” to increase production in order to continue helping Kyiv. Last Tuesday, the Alliance signed a €1.1 billion contract to buy hundreds of thousands of artillery projectiles to replenish its own reserves and continue to feed the Ukrainian army. However, this process will take months.
The lack of ammunition is one of the factors contributing to the stagnation of the war. In the summer, Ukraine fired between 4,000 and 7,000 artillery shells each day, while Russia launched more than 20,000, according to European Union estimates. Kyiv has long warned of ammunition shortages, forcing soldiers on the battlefield to begin rationing projectiles, according to the Financial Timeswhile Russian troops intensify their attacks.
In recent weeks, Moscow’s troops have managed to advance on several eastern fronts, notably around and inside Avdiivka in Donetsk and west of Kreminna in Lugansk, according to several independent sources tracking the war, like the Institute for the Study of War. The Russian military is also trying to push into the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine. This Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense has assured that it has taken control of the small town of Tabaivka, although Ukraine has denied this.
Fight against corruption
To verify the use that Ukrainian troops make of the weapons they receive from the United States, American inspectors arrived in the country at war this Monday, and will hold several meetings. According to an official US report released this month, Washington has been unable to establish the destination of $1 billion worth of weapons sent to Ukraine. The supposed lack of control over the aid that is sent to Kyiv is one of the arguments of the Republican Party to keep the new party blocked.
Zelenskiy’s government is making efforts to show that it is making progress in the fight against corruption in the military. This Monday, the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Rustem Umérov, explained that he had recovered 1.5 billion hryvnias (more than 36 million euros) that had been transferred to an intermediary to buy ammunition for artillery at an inflated price.
Umérov has also referred to other irregularities, and has assured that the ministry makes “unplanned inspections” in the warehouses of military units to identify possible fraud or cases in which the agreed material has not been delivered. He has indicated, for example, that it has been discovered that food worth more than 1.2 million euros was not distributed, which has resulted in a change of suppliers in some units. In September of last year, Zelenski dismissed the head of Defense, Oleksí Réznikov, following a series of reports of corruption and financial mismanagement in his department.
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