The US House of Representatives on Saturday approved a $61 billion security package for kyiv, after months of wrangling in Congress over Republican demands for the White House to increase security on the border with Mexico. The bill must still be approved by the Democratic-majority Senate and signed by US President Joe Biden.
Although the new package has led Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to claim that his country could still defeat Russia, many officials in kyiv are less enthusiastic, arguing that it is “unlikely to dramatically alter kyiv’s situation on the front line,” according to the Financial Times.
Several frontline Ukrainian troops told the newspaper that they are barely holding out against the relentless Russian attacks, while suffering from a severe shortage of ammunition. Some soldiers said they hoped an influx of American-made equipment would improve their situation, although a senior Ukrainian official told the newspaper that it “will help slow the Russian advance, but not stop it.”
Another Ukrainian source echoed that assessment, noting that while the assistance would reduce the ammunition deficit, “it does not contain a silver bullet.”
A Ukrainian military analyst commented that the $61 billion in assistance could be the last of its kind this year, adding that “there is a fairly high probability that all subsequent aid packages for Ukraine will be much smaller in size.”
The ammunition deficit is not the only problem facing Ukraine. Rob Lee, senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program, noted that manpower is another major challenge for kyiv. The question of recruiting more troops for the front “may be the key to how the war will develop in 2025,” he assessed.
In February, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu estimated Ukraine’s losses since the start of the conflict at more than 444,000 troops. Earlier this month, he said kyiv had lost more than 80,000 soldiers this year alone.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian authorities have embarked on a flurry of legislative activity to replenish losses on the battlefield. Zelensky signed two bills in April, one of which lowers the registration age for men from 27 to 25, while the other significantly tightens mobilization rules.