“… Biden and his national security team are facing a moment of truth in Ukraine. Simply funding the war in Ukraine without changing the dynamics will likely result in Putin winning over time. … [Biden] must determine whether he has the will and conviction to … see … Zelensky and his generals through to victory. … Biden has extended a […]
» Read more
(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – April 25, 2024) The full video of this event from the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s 2024 Forum on Leadership can be found here. Introduction and transcription by RM Staff. [note from web editor: embedded video added below] CIA Director William Burns predicts that with supplemental U.S. aid, which is now beginning to flow to […]
» Read more
“The two-year-old war in Ukraine — which is far from deadlocked — could pivot dramatically in the coming months. U.S. decisions will play a decisive role.” “… Russia and Ukraine could soon be looking at a transformed conflict … in which both have real reasons for hope as well as fear. … Russia’s newly amped-up military strategy heightens the danger […]
» Read more
“Vladimir Putin says the West is trying to ‘finish’ Russia. The Biden administration denies the accusation. But leaked documents reveal the extent of U.S. involvement in the Ukraine fight.” “… [L]eaked documents confirm … that the United States is using its vast array of espionage and surveillance tools — including cutting-edge satellites and signals intelligence — to keep Kyiv ahead […]
» Read more
“Allies must provide Kyiv with what it needs to win the war and secure the peace: arms supplies and a path to NATO membership.” “… [T]he West … need[s] … a clearer strategy for achieving victory and stopping … Putin from overturning the rules-based international order. … [H]esitation and incrementalism in providing Ukraine with the military capabilities … it needs […]
» Read more
“… The … conflict has brought renewed focus on the regional threat posed by Russian revanchism and presents challenges to security and stability … in the region and elsewhere. The geopolitical implications are immense. The conflict has established new benchmarks … [for] modern warfare and demonstrated anew … how dangerous the world is. We invited a group of RAND experts […]
» Read more
“President Volodymyr Zelensky’s briefing, via a video call, will come a day after the White House warned that aid to his country would soon run out.” “… [A]n emergency funding package is stalled in Congress. The … Senate will vote … Wednesday … [on] more than $61 billion in Ukraine-focused assistance as part of a $106 billion national security package. […]
» Read more
“As a long war with Russia looms, American support can no longer be depended on.” “… [O]nly around 400 square km (154 square miles) of territory had been liberated [in the Ukrainian counteroffensive] …. Russia still occupies about 18% of Ukraine[.] [A]round half … it took in 2014 … annex[ing] Crimea and grabb[ing] the eastern Donbas[.] [T]he rest is … […]
» Read more
“The Biden administration and Ukrainian officials are issuing urgent appeals for Congress to provide military aid for Ukraine, with the White House saying the pot of funding is running dangerously low. In a sign of how acute the threat is … Zelensky dispatched his No. 2 official[, Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine,] to … […]
» Read more
“Ukraine allies in U.S. Congress begin uphill battle for help Assistance caught in partisan fight over immigration” “… Ukraine’s congressional backers are … in a tough battle over an expansive aid package … now enmeshed in a partisan fight over border policies and torn from must-pass bills that would prompt swift action. The soonest Congress could complete negotiations and pass […]
» Read more
“Kyiv is low on money and time, its advocates say, but in Congress the desire to continue funding its fight against Russia has reached new lows.” “Ukraine is running out of money and time, its proponents say. But congressional interest in financing its fight against invading Russian forces has dipped lower than ever, and rising competition from other national security […]
» Read more
“MARGARET BRENNAN: … Your president has said that … the war in the Middle East is diverting some attention from the war that’s happening in Ukraine. And he said that’s part of Russia’s goals. So I want to hear from you, where you think the conflict is, because I know that Ukraine has said it is running very short of […]
» Read more
“… Biden [has] … emphasized that … missiles and artillery shells … sent overseas are made in America, providing a local economic boost. … [T]hat may not be a winning argument for [a] significant number of Republican lawmakers …. ‘We are $33 TRILLION in debt, and Ukraine is not the 51st state,’ [posted] Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala. …. When Russia […]
» Read more
“More than a year and a half since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, defense companies have been struggling to hire workers, untangle supply chains and restart mothballed production lines.” “Billions … spent by the federal government to arm Ukraine and replenish U.S. military stockpiles have been slow to translate into a significant number of new [U.S.] jobs … as defense manufacturers […]
» Read more
“Kyiv is converting U.S. missiles for new uses and prioritising joint ventures with western companies.” “… [Ukrainian] Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal [said] … ‘We understand we should produce [ammunition] here in Ukraine because … [globally ammunition is] depleted …. [Ukraine learns from] its dramatic increase in domestic drone manufacturing, he said, … up from ‘a few dozen last year’ to […]
» Read more
“… [A DOD] official said … tens of thousands of 155-millimeter artillery shells promised to Ukraine would be diverted to Israel. … an example of the American weapons … [reportedly] needed in both wars, which could stretch … U.S. capacity to keep up …. especially … if Israel’s expected [Gaza] ground offensive … lasts for months. … Ukraine and Israel […]
» Read more
“The emergency funding request to Congress, which would also include funds to fortify border security, is expected by Friday.” “… Biden [reportedly] is expected to ask Congress … to approve about $100 billion in emergency funds to arm Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan and fortify the U.S.-Mexico border …. The funding request, which lawmakers expect to receive by Friday morning, would […]
» Read more
“If he was he would find that it is cooling toward the concept of ‘as long as it takes.’” “… While the seeming shift in public opinion is … important … and should signal … that the time has come to pursue negotiations, it is clear that those whose opinions matter most — in Kiev, Moscow, and Washington — aren’t […]
» Read more
“Slow military progress and cracks in the backing of key allies could also drain vital attention from Ukraine’s battle with Russia, some fear.” “Ukraine, still locked in fierce combat with Russia along hundreds of miles of front line, also finds itself grappling with … [geopolitical] shifts …. The attention of key allies is pivoting to … Gaza, military aid from […]
» Read more
“For the first time … Zelenskyy joined a meeting of more than 50 defense leaders from around the world, making a personal pitch Wednesday for military aid in the face of lagging political support in the United States and new pressure on allies to send weapons to bolster Israel’s war with Hamas. … The meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact […]
» Read more
“As ‘Ukraine fatigue’ sets in among U.S. voters, a row over more spending in Capitol Hill has alarmed officials in NATO states and in Kyiv.” “… After 18 months of brutal warfare, with no end to the invasion in sight, Joe Biden is facing unprecedented resistance to U.S. support. In both the Republican-controlled House and among voters at large, ‘Ukraine […]
» Read more
“Ukraine is now America’s new forever war. Americans know that ‘whatever it takes’ is not a strategy.” “…. ‘As long as it takes’ remains the [Biden administration] mantra …. According to reports from September’s U.N. General Assembly meeting, U.S. and G-7 allies expect the war … to continue … at least six to seven years. … [T]he other implication is […]
» Read more
“Kyiv has fought too well to simply give up, but Russia and China will achieve their goal of splitting the West.” “[With the loss of U.S. funding for Ukraine,] … the balance on the battlefield [would] shift significantly. Ukraine [wouldn’t] simply surrender … [b]ut given how reliant Ukraine is on [U.S.] arms and ammunition … its situation [would] still get […]
» Read more
“There is no alternative to slowly and methodically reducing Russian forces in Ukraine.” “… The idea that there is a shortcut to victory raises expectations for a quick end to the carnage that Ukraine is unlikely to fulfill. After more than 18 months of grinding, attritional war, it should be obvious that there are no miracle weapons and that there […]
» Read more
“[Ukrainian foreign minister] Dmytro Kuleba … is a smooth[, unruffled] and affable diplomat …. But on August 31st his patience snapped. ‘Criticising the slow pace of the counter-offensive equals … spitting into the face of the Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day,’ he told journalists. ‘I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try […]
» Read more
“… New developments … may threaten [a previous] dynamic. Russia’s campaign against Ukrainian grain infrastructure and surging Ukrainian attacks within Russia threaten to expand the geographical scope of conflict. The mutiny and subsequent death of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin suggest that Russia’s domestic political situation is dynamic and could shift in ways that may encourage Putin to escalate. Ukraine’s […]
» Read more
“A coalition of the world’s wealthiest and most technologically advanced countries gives Ukraine a major structural advantage. Russia, by contrast, has only two countries—Iran and North Korea — openly assisting it … although China has been … an important economic backstop … and a provider of nonlethal military aid. … Western military support comes with its own risks and challenges[] […]
» Read more
“… [DIA Director Trent] Maul … notes that Sergei Surovikin, the Russian general who built [Russia’s] defensive lines [in Ukraine], and Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group mercenaries achieved Russia’s most tangible gains of the past year, are both off the battlefield — the former sacked and the latter dead …. [] Maul … says … Ukraine’s recent successes are ‘significant’ […]
» Read more
“More than 500 days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there are signs that some of Ukraine’s supporters in the West want to prepare the ground for negotiations. Such a shift in policy would be catastrophic.” “… The counteroffensive has not stalled … but Ukraine would have made more progress had the U.S. not displayed … timidity over supplying … […]
» Read more
“The Ukrainian leader has secured new weapons pledges, but it was not clear when the aid would arrive, or how consequential it would be on the battlefield.” “… Zelensky … said … Russian forces were throwing ‘everything they can’ at Kyiv’s troops fighting to retake land in the south and east … emphasizing the grueling nature of a counteroffensive … […]
» Read more
“This is war. … Zelenskyy[] is fighting or forced to fight a Russian president who’s been ruthless, bombing civilian targets from almost minute one, with Zelenskyy pleading with the United States and the West, please send tanks, please send planes, please send us the most advanced military equipment you can give us, because we need it. … [S]ending cluster munitions […]
» Read more
“… At [the] NATO summit, the West must decide how much a victory over Putin is worth and finally get serious about delivering urgently needed weapons systems. … The Ukrainians have thus far fallen far short of the goals they set for their counteroffensive. They don’t have the equipment they need for a rapid breakthrough in the southeast … lack[ing] […]
» Read more
“… Authoritarian leaders rarely lose power while still waging a war they initiated. … [and] authoritarian regimes most often survive in the wake of the departure of longtime leaders … [W]ere Putin to die … or be removed by insiders, the regime would … likely endure …. One development … could spark more substantive change in Russia: a Ukrainian victory. […]
» Read more
“Some of the weapons sent to Ukraine by other countries have been unusable, and hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts paid up front have yet to be fulfilled.” “Ukraine has paid contractors hundreds of millions of dollars for weapons that have not been delivered, and some of the much-publicized arms donated by its allies have been so decrepit that […]
» Read more
“… Russia invaded Ukraine … to conquer the country and erase the independence … gained after the [Soviet] collapse …. Russia’s attempt to take [Kyiv] was thwarted … then its attempts to consolidate gains in the east and the south were disrupted. Russian troops were forced to withdraw from the Kharkiv region and Kherson. A brutal Russian air campaign against […]
» Read more
“… Military aid has a well-deserved bad reputation. Large-scale [U.S.] attempts … to build partner militaries — from Afghanistan to Iraq to Vietnam — have cost billions … while failing to build effective partner forces. Yet the indirect approach[,] … done right, can deliver remarkable strategic effects, as … in Ukraine. While the bravery and resourcefulness of the Ukrainians surely […]
» Read more
“Despite warnings that arming Ukraine will start a world war, President Biden continues to push the Russian leader’s limits — a strategy that brings risk and reward.” “… A key reason for brushing aside Putin’s threats, U.S. officials say, is a dynamic that has held since the opening days of the war: Russia’s president has not followed through on promises […]
» Read more
“Ukraine wants long-range missiles to regain Crimea and end the war. Why won’t Washington supply them?” “… Despite repeated pleas, the United States has not given Kyiv land-based missiles capable of hitting Russia. … Sustained Ukrainian attacks inside Russia’s territory could violate Putin’s red lines in a way that previous strikes haven’t. So could repeatedly hitting Crimea, the peninsula that […]
» Read more
“The $48 billion Ukraine aid package … Congress approved in December has about $6 billion left … U.S. funding for weapons and supplies could dry up by midsummer. … raising fresh concerns among lawmakers about … when the administration will ask for another major package and whether it will be enough. The funding, many members say, needs to continue … […]
» Read more