On September 12, Fox News reported that Joe Biden’s administration has supposedly verified over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine since the Russo-Ukrainian conflict began in February 2022, compelling one lawmaker to demand an end to the “money pit.”
Replying seven months later to a request from Senate Republicans for an accounting of U.S. support to Ukraine, the White House revealed a spreadsheet detailing almost $101.2 billion in aid that had already been deployed or pledged to the Kyiv regime.
Moreover, the Biden administration has an additional $9.8 billion in Ukraine spending lined up, along with the $24 billion in new aid that Biden requested from Congress in August this year.
In response to the government revelations, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said that “we’ve got to stop sinking money into the Ukrainian money pit.” Vance and several other Republican lawmakers had requested the Ukraine spending information in January and given a February 7 deadline for a government response.
However, in a letter to lawmakers, Shalanda Young, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, justified the Ukrainian spending spree, stating that “this support has been critical to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield, as well as the ability of its people to endure under harsh conditions.” Biden has declared explicitly that the United States “will not waver in our commitment to the Ukrainian people as they fight for their freedom and independence,” Young elaborated.
Former President Donald Trump, who is presently polling as the leading Republican candidate to contest Biden in next year’s presidential elections, has promised to end the Russo-Ukrainian conflict within 24 hours by compelling the leaders of both sides to peace talks.
In contrast, since Biden assumed the role of president in January 2021 and displayed unflinching support to the Kyiv regime by sending them military aid worth billions of dollars, the American national debt has skyrocketed to almost $33 trillion from $28.4 trillion.
By far, Washington has been the largest contributor to Ukrainian military efforts, spearheading an international sanctions campaign against Russia over the conflict as well. Earlier this summer, Western aid to Ukraine totaled around 165 billion euros ($177 billion), based on an estimate by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. U.S. lawmakers have greenlit $113 billion in Ukraine aid thus far.
On September 7, the Department of Defense declared that it would supply another $600 million worth of military aid to Ukraine through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), as per a statement published by the Pentagon. The USAI permits the Biden administration to obtain weapons from the defense industry rather than procuring them from existing U.S. military stock.
Based on the Pentagon statement, the new package would entail equipment for air-defense systems, additional ammunition for HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, 105mm artillery rounds, electronic warfare tools, demolition munitions for obstacle clearing, and mine-clearing hardware.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Kyiv last week, pledged $1 billion in aid from Washington, including $665.5 million for military paraphernalia. “We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs not only to succeed on the counteroffensive, but [also] in the long term,” Blinken told journalists in Kyiv.
News outlet Politico also claimed that 10 of 31 U.S.-made main battle tanks are poised to reach Ukraine in a matter of weeks.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov slammed the action as a “criminal move” by the United States. “It’s not just an escalatory step, but a reflection of Washington’s outrageous disregard for the environmental consequences” of using depleted uranium shells on the battlefield.
Likewise, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov lambasted the American actions as “very bad news,” using as an illustration a rise in cancer cases in the territory of former Yugoslavia, where depleted uranium munitions were used during NATO’s bombing campaign in 1999. Peskov added that America’s persistent military aid to Kyiv is an indicator that the Biden administration plans to continue “waging a war to the last Ukrainian.”
On September 5, Russia’s Defense Ministry asserted that Ukraine had lost around 66,000 troops and 7,600 pieces of heavy weaponry, without any considerable victories, during the three months of its counteroffensive.
Russia has repeatedly cautioned that arms deployment to Ukraine by Washington and its allies will only worsen and drag out the fighting, but would not stop Moscow’s aims in its actions in Ukraine. Russian officials have pointed out that arms supplies, intelligence sharing, and Western training of Kyiv’s forces already imply that Western nations have become de facto participants in the conflict.
Meanwhile, billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk faced brickbats after his firm refused to provide Starlink coverage over Crimea, thus allegedly impacting a Ukrainian drone attack against the Russian Black Sea Fleet last year, based on claims by CNN.
Speaking via video link at the All-In Summit 2023 tech conference in Los Angeles on September 12, Musk responded to questions about why he had made that move. He began by emphasizing that his company has “provided Starlink connectivity to Ukraine” since February 2022, noting that top Ukrainian officials have admitted on various occasions that the service has played a vital role in tackling Russian actions.
Regarding the issue about Crimea, Musk explained that “at the time this happened, the region around Crimea was actually turned off. The reason it was turned off was originally because the United States has sanctions against Russia — and that includes Crimea.” He added, “We’re not allowed to actually turn on connectivity to a sanctioned country without explicit government approval.”
Musk pointed out that while he is not a fan of Joe Biden, “if I [had] received a presidential directive to turn it on, I would have done so,” but “no such request came through.”
The SpaceX CEO also posited that the planned Ukrainian attack on the Russian fleet in Sevastopol could have similar consequences to the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor during World War II, potentially giving rise to a major escalation in the conflict with Russia.
“So [the Ukrainians are] really asking us to really proactively take part in a major act of war,” Musk concluded.
“I am a citizen of the United States and have only that passport,” Musk said on September 11 in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) social media platform. “No matter what happens, I will fight for and die in America.” Musk elaborated that, considering that the U.S. Congress has not declared war on Russia, “if anyone is treasonous, it is those who call me such. Please tell them that very clearly.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren urged Congress to investigate Musk over his actions, and Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Mykhailovych Podolyak blasted the SpaceX CEO for “committing evil.”
