Now that the Senate has approved a nearly $61 billion aid package to Ukraine, and with President Biden poised to sign it, desperately needed American weapons could arrive on the battlefield in a matter of days.
The arms package, which has been delayed by political disputes among House Republicans since last fall, is “a lifeline” for kyiv’s military, said Yehor Cherniev, vice chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s national security committee. .
But it won’t include everything President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has asked for as his army struggles to hold its ground after two years of war against invading Russian forces.
Here’s a look at what Ukraine says it needs, what it’s expected to get in the U.S. aid package and whether it will be enough to make an immediate difference.
What Ukraine wants.
Above all, Zelensky says Ukraine needs artillery munitions and long-range missiles to attack Russian forces, along with air defenses to protect cities and key infrastructure such as military bases, power plants and weapons factories.
“We need to inflict maximum damage on everything that Russia uses as a base for terrorism and for its military logistics,” Zelensky said in his evening address to Ukrainians on Monday.
To achieve this, he said, Ukraine needs more long-range army tactical missile systems, known as ATACMS and pronounced “attack’ems,” to strike behind enemy lines and deep into Russian-controlled territory. The United States sent a small number of ATACMS, with a range of about 100 miles, to Ukraine last year, and they were used to attack two Russian air bases in October. Ukraine has been calling for a longer-range version that can strike targets about 190 miles away.
Artillery ammunition, such as 155 millimeter caliber shells that fit standard NATO launchers donated by the West, have been in short supply in Ukraine for more than a year, as Russian forces are firing 10 times as many shells into the field of battle than the outgunned Ukrainians. troops, Zelensky said last week.
Zelensky has also described air defenses – and specifically the US-made Patriot surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile system – as “crucial.” And he has been pushing for more than a year for F-16 fighter jets to provide another layer of air defense over Ukraine’s ground war.
What Ukraine will get.
The Pentagon has prepared what a U.S. official said Tuesday was a $1 billion military aid package that will be quickly sent to Ukraine once Biden signs the funding bill. The package, which was first reported by Reuters, will include shoulder-fired Stinger surface-to-air missiles, 155-millimeter projectiles, anti-tank guided missiles and battlefield vehicles.
The US official said the package would also include ammunition for so-called High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, which can launch ATACMS missiles. The official did not confirm whether ATACMS specifically would be part of the help, and the Pentagon has generally resisted discussing the use of missiles in Ukraine, in part out of fear that it could inflame Russia by admitting it was sending long-range weapons to Ukraine. war.
It is unclear whether the United States will send Ukraine another Patriot air defense system, as Germany and other allies are reportedly demanding. The systems are scarce and expensive, and giving Ukraine one more could mean preventing it from protecting American assets, whether domestically or internationally.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that the U.S. aid package would enable “advanced air defense systems” for Ukraine, but did not specify what type.
Stoltenberg also said NATO allies were working to deliver F-16 jets to Ukraine. But the United States has so far refused to donate any of its fighter jets, although the Air Force has helped train some of the several dozen Ukrainian pilots who are so far learning to fly them. Officials have said that about 12 pilots should be ready to fly the F-16s in combat by July, but by then only six of the planes will have been delivered to Ukraine.
It will be enough?
Although the $61 billion aid package is intended to support Ukraine, Pentagon officials have said that up to $48 billion will go to American weapons manufacturers, either to replenish American arsenals that have been nearly emptied during the last two years of war or to build additional weapons. weapons for Ukraine.
The $1 billion infusion the Pentagon is preparing would come from remaining funds, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it could be “in transit by the end of the week.” ”. That could immediately help shore up Ukraine’s front line, where forces must quickly stop Russian drones, planes and light bombers, and prevent Ukraine from losing ground.
But Ukrainian officials appear skeptical that enough weapons will be delivered quickly or consistently in the coming months to maintain momentum.
“When we have it, when we have it in our arms, then we will have the opportunity to take this initiative and move forward to protect Ukraine,” Zelensky told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program on Sunday. But, he said, “it depends on how soon we get this help.”
Weapons and ammunition shipped to Ukraine often come from Pentagon assets in Europe, and shipments are coordinated by a staff of about 300 people based in Germany.
Yet for months, the United States and other allies have repeatedly warned that they had few weapons to give Ukraine until arms production could catch up to the war’s voracious demand. That led Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, to question in an interview published Tuesday where the new weapons package would come from.
“Is this equipment available?” Markarova told the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda. “Will we find and produce enough equipment fast enough to get it?”
The funding helps, he said, but he questioned whether all the weapons and equipment he would pay for “are ready to be delivered.”
“Unfortunately, no,” Markarova said.