Biden officials, who are seeking to arm Ukraine with more modern and deadly weapons, are making breakthroughs to change White House policy, which has been criticized for being too slow and cautious in making decisions.
President Biden’s announcement this week of an additional $ 800 million in military aid includes, for the first time, modern munitions that Ukraine has requested.
Although the package does not yet meet the specific demands made by Ukraine, it is also a real change.
Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the recent military aid package was a “significant change” and a sign that the US administration and allies were “consistently intensifying the heat” against Russia.
“Are there still red lines?” Yes, “he added, but said the United States had reached exactly those lines without crossing them.
The announcement of the new package followed public pressure from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky spoke with Biden on Wednesday nearly an hour before the announcement of the weapons package. He had previously posted on Twitter requests for specific military hardware, including fighter jets, tanks and multiple missile launchers.
The campaign, which Zelensky described as #ArmUkraine, was an effort to get the United States and Western allies to speed up supplies and meet specific requirements for critical weapons systems, as Russian forces withdrawing, regrouping and supplying offer a short reprieve.
“The weapons that are coming to Ukraine are very slow, we desperately need them. That’s why the president [Zelensky] make this campaign public, “Ukrainian MP Alexei Goncharenko told The Hill.
External analysts and people familiar with the administration’s motives say a combination of caution and concerns about logistics has prevented the United States from fulfilling Zelensky’s wish list.
The package, for example, does not include military planes, which Zelensky described in his video appeal as “mandatory” for rescuing millions of Ukrainians as well as millions of Europeans.
It will also take about four weeks for the United States to deliver all the $ 800 million military aid included, a senior defense official told reporters Thursday.
John Herbst, a former ambassador to Ukraine and a senior contributor to the Atlantic Council, welcomed Biden’s military package, but said Ukrainians needed air force, especially Soviet-era MiG fighters and Sukhoi bombers.
“They still say no to MiGs and Sukhoi bombers, these MiGs and Sukhoi bombers would be very convenient when working with Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers in the open,” Herbst said.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the administration still has “concerns” about the delivery of MiGs from Poland to Ukraine, citing earlier Pentagon estimates that such a move could cause Putin to escalate conflict with NATO.
“That assessment has not changed,” Psaki said.
An outside analyst with insight into the administration’s thinking blamed Secretary of State Anthony Blinken for leaning forward on sending more modern weapons to Ukraine.
The analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, said Blinken’s support for the MiG transfer. Blinken said on March 6 that the United States had given the green light to Poland. The vow was returned by the White House the next day.
“The policy is guided by the National Security Council, and we know that Blinken’s instincts are very different, and we have seen that on the MiG issue,” the analyst said.
U.S. officials have publicly suggested that the changes in the war are changing the way US supports.
“The nature of the conflict is changing,” so it would be wise to adapt the right forms of support to this changing reality, “State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a briefing on Wednesday.
Russia is believed to have regrouped its forces for a more concentrated offensive in the country’s eastern and southern regions.
Price at the State Department on Wednesday said the $ 800 million arms transfer to Ukraine came after a direct call from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to Blinken for “weapons, weapons and weapons”.
“He met with Secretary Blinken and Secretary Blinken had three answers for him: yes, yes and yes. And today you saw the fruits of some of these discussions, “Price said.
William Taylor, director of the Russia and Europe program at the US Institute of Peace, said growing evidence of atrocities against civilians and Biden’s accusation that Russia had committed genocide had prompted the administration to be more aggressive in helping.
“I don’t feel that hesitation anymore,” Taylor said.
“I’m talking to people at the Pentagon trying to help” escalated arms transfers, including from the United States but also from NATO allies such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, who provided Ukraine with a T-72 tank and missile defense system, respectively. C300, which Zelenski asked for.
“The bureaucracy is doing this, I think it’s really full and there are things that need to be in Ukrainian hands, for example tomorrow, to break up and defend against this big offensive that the Russians are obviously planning and could start every day.” he said.
Efforts have also received support from key allies such as Britain, which has been particularly hawkish.
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“There is a window of opportunity,” said James Cleverley, Britain’s foreign minister for Europe and North America, of the need to increase the supply of military aid to Ukraine.
“We provide Ukrainians with the systems they need to properly defend their homeland, and we strive to do so while the Russians make this repositioning,” he said in an interview in Washington this week.
Morgan Chalfant contributed to this story.
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