«Ukraine will not be a second Afghanistan». Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanks Washington again, in the aftermath of the House vote that released 61 billion dollars for Kiev. In an interview with NBC, the Ukrainian president urged the Senate to quickly ratify the aid package. Tomorrow’s vote and President Joe Biden’s signature represent the latest stage in a months-long dispute due to the Republican veto.
While the weapons are already ready for delivery, Zelensky reiterated that the priority is the Patriot and the long-range missiles needed to protect the cities, which remain exposed. According to analysts, Ukraine has only two Patriots left, one of which is used to defend Kiev, while the other is deployed closer to the battlefield. The bases in Ramstein and Geilenkirchen in Germany, Orzysz in Poland and Kogalniceanu in Romania have already been mobilized. General Pat Ryder of the Pentagon confirmed to Guardian that the United States is able to send “almost immediately” air defense missiles, 155 mm projectiles and artillery pieces. “We have organized a logistics network that allows us to move weapons very quickly,” Ryder said. The first 6 of the 33 F-16 fighters that Denmark, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands have allocated to Kiev will also be operational from June.
Important steps to avoid Kiev’s defeat. In recent weeks, Russia, in addition to targeting civilian targets, has knocked out several power plants which caused blackouts in some parts of the country, including Kharkiv, and the Trypilska power plant, the most important in the Kiev region.
A situation which remains precarious and will remain so, despite the help arriving. Primarily due to the Ukrainian logistical difficulties of distribution – warns the ISW, the Institute for Study of War – a period of which Moscow will easily take advantage of for other attacks on energy infrastructures and to continue to press on Chasiv Yar in the East. The ISW It also warns that Russian forces “could target Ukrainian transport infrastructure to limit Ukraine’s ability to sufficiently distribute manpower and material to critical sectors of the front.” In any case, the aid should allow the Ukrainians to hold the front and de-escalate the Russian offensive which is expected to culminate in June.
From Brussels, the US vote was greeted with relief. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen declared that “Ukraine deserves all the support it can get against Russia.” His words were echoed by the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who defined the vote as “a strong signal in these times” while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk thanked the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, also underlining the delay in Congress. «Better late than too late. And I hope it’s not too late for Ukraine,” he wrote on X.
In Europe, however, there are those who have a different opinion. «We are one step away from the West sending soldiers to Ukraine. It is a vortex of war that could drag Europe into the abyss. Brussels is playing with fire”, is the analysis of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in a post published on Facebook. Finally, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke to the agency from Moscow on Saturday Ria Novosti, He called the approval of aid to Ukraine a decision that “will make the United States of America richer, will further ruin Ukraine and will cause the death of even more Ukrainians, thanks to the Kiev regime.”
Tags: Ukraine Afghanistan
