Biden administration slowed down arms aids to Ukraine in 2024 – Reuters
3 February 14:59
The administration of US President Joe Biden has significantly slowed down arms supplies to Ukraine during the last year of his term in office due to internal debates over the risks of escalation with Russia and concerns about the adequacy of US arms stockpiles. Reuters writes about this based on the results of its own investigation, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to the agency, the delays were greatest during the months when the US Congress was considering a $60 billion aid package that was blocked by Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress. However, supply problems continued even after the funding was approved.
Including a high-profile aid package in April 2024, the Biden administration authorized an average of about $558 million per month through September. The pace of delivery accelerated sharply after Trump won the presidential election, reaching levels not seen since mid-2023.
However, as of November 2024, only about half of the total amount the US had promised to provide from its stockpile had been delivered, and only about 30% of the promised armored vehicles had arrived by early December.
In the last 12 months of Biden’s term, Ukraine lost almost all the territory it had regained during the largely unsuccessful counteroffensive of 2023. At the end of 2024, Russian forces were seizing an average of about 20 square kilometers every day.
The situation has escalated since Trump returned to power in Washington. His new administration can stop shipments at any time, even those that have already been approved. In his first week in office, Trump froze foreign aid to Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops on the front lines report a critical shortage of ammunition.
The White House denies that the US has been too slow to act. According to a senior Biden administration official, without Washington’s support, Russia could have seized even more Ukrainian territory.
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American weapons and authorizations for their use
Another problem was that the United States was known to authorize the use of weapons it provided only for strikes on Russian border areas. This permission was granted by US President Joe Biden only at the end of May 2024, and before that, strikes on Russian territory with US weapons were generally prohibited.
However, closer to the end of June, the US side made unofficial statements that the restrictions “do not apply to geography or a certain radius.” This was interpreted as meaning that Ukraine could allegedly strike at those facilities and territories from which attacks on Ukraine are directly directed, even if they are deeper than the border areas. But later it turned out that this could also mean that Ukraine is not allowed to strike certain targets even in the occupied territories.
According to experts, border strikes will not change the situation at the front, so Zelenskyy asked his partners for permission to strike with their weapons on Russian territory. Some Western countries have given such permission without waiting for the US to decide.
The New York Times reported on November 18 that US President Joe Biden had authorized the Ukrainian military to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory for the first time.
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