Republicans may throw a spanner in US military aid to Ukraine, CIA chief tells Zelenskyy
In a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, CIA Director William J Burns told the war-torn country’s leader that US military aid may not come through as easily in the coming months.
Burns travelled secretly to Ukraine, according a Washington Post report.
He “emphasised the urgency of the moment on the battlefield and acknowledged that at some point assistance would be harder to come by”, the Post reported.
Republicans, who won majority in the US House of Representatives in the 2022 mid-terms, have repeatedly asked for more scrutiny on the aid going to Ukraine.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, in October before the mid-terms, had said that Ukraine won’t get a “blank cheque” any more under a Republican majority.
This comes against the backdrop of Ukraine pressing on its western allies to step up aid to include heavy military equipment like tanks, long range missiles and air defence systems. With the US aid, the core of war resources for Ukraine, expected to slow down, if not fall drastically, Ukraine is left with mainly the aid committed so far.
“Zelenskyy and his aides came away from last week’s meeting with the impression that the Biden administration’s support for Kyiv remains strong and the $45 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine passed by Congress in December would last at least through July or August.
The Pentagon on Thursday announced additional aid of $2.5 billion for Ukraine, which consists of 90 Stryker combat vehicles and an additional 59 Bradley fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in addition to hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.
This aid was the 30th drawdown from the US Arms and equipment since August 2021 for Ukraine. US President’s drawdown authority is a time efficient way to provide military assistance to allies as it takes from the military articles already in service with the US Forces. But this has a limit. These drawdowns have a cap of $11 billion, which was increased by the Congress from earlier $100 million due to the war in Ukraine. For anything beyond this, US President will have to go the Congress, where Republicans now control the House of Representatives.
Reportedly, Burn also briefed Zelenskyy on his expectations for what Russia is planning militarily in the coming weeks and months.
While the CIA declined to elaborate on what the brief was about, any input from Burns would be highly valued due his rapport with Kyiv.
Burns had in January 2022 accurately warned the Ukrainians that Russia would seek to control the Antonov airport in Kyiv in the initial stage of the war. It was his input that helped Ukraine prepare to defend the airport and deny Russia a foothold it required to takeover Kyiv.
