WASHINGTON, Jan 30 US President Joe Biden faces challenges when agreeing with Congress on new packages of military and economic assistance to Ukraine in the event that the conflict drags on until the end of the year without significant achievements from Kyiv, said former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.
«If the hostilities drag on until the end of the year without meaningful Ukrainian victories, it will be difficult for the Biden administration to get congressional approval for a new military and economic aid package,» the former ambassador writes in Foreign Affairs.
The cumulative amount of US military aid to Kyiv has already reached $27.8 billion since the beginning of the administration of US President Joe Biden, and since 2014 — $29.9 billion.
According to McFaul, the intensification of the election race will be of particular difficulty for the White House, given the fact that former US President Donald Trump, who intends to run for president in 2024 and has supporters in the ranks of the current congressmen, «is not a fan of aid to Ukraine.»
In addition to Washington, the former ambassador also expects tensions to escalate when discussing new aid to Kyiv and in European capitals, with little Ukrainian results on the battlefield.
The US House of Representatives in December approved the country's budget for fiscal year 2023 in the amount of almost $1.7 trillion, then it was signed by US President Joe Biden. The budget allocates $1.7 trillion to the federal government by the end of September 2023, including $858 billion for defense and $45 billion for Ukraine.
Earlier, Russia sent a note to NATO countries because of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.