The News
The passage of $60 billion in aid for Ukraine by the U.S. House of Representatives has offered a crucial lifeline to Kyiv — and placed renewed pressure on Europe to further support Ukraine’s war effort.
European Union foreign ministers are set to meet Monday to discuss Ukraine’s air defenses, and some leaders are calling for weapons stockpiles to be sent to Kyiv.
SIGNALS
US deadlock on Ukraine aid saw Russia gain upper hand
U.S. lawmakers sparred for months over the terms of the aid package — a delay that worked in Russia’s favor, some analysts argued. The bill’s passage will help Ukraine get back on track, said John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. New shells from the aid package “will have an immediate, positive impact on the course of the war,” Herbst noted. Meanwhile, the bill calls for Washington to send long-range ATACMS missiles, capable of striking deep into Russia, to Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden has resisted sending ATACMS missiles to Ukraine out of fear of provoking the Kremlin, but “there are indications that this reluctance is changing. That would be a very good thing,” Herbst said.
European leaders set to discuss air defenses for Ukraine
Russia has stepped up air strikes on Ukraine, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call for access to Patriot missiles and modern fighter jets. European foreign ministers are set to discuss providing surface-to-air missiles to Kyiv, and Polish President Andrzej Duda said his country was prepared to host nuclear weapons if NATO members decided to deploy them. European nations have stopped short of providing long-range weapons to Kyiv so far, and while some foreign ministers have publicly voiced their support for additional arms to be sent to Ukraine, that has so far not materialized, security analyst Amanda Paul told Voice of America. “It’s only when the situation on the battlefield has become quite hot that Europeans have changed their narrative,” she said.
Some civilians attempting Ukraine aid packages on their own
With several nations opting not to fund the purchase of additional air defenses for Ukraine, some Europeans are taking matters into their own hands: In Slovakia, a World War II veteran organized a crowdfunding campaign to purchase artillery shells for Kyiv, the BBC reported, raising more than $1 million in less than 48 hours. The fundraiser, which had 32,000 donors, offered Slovaks unhappy with their nation’s foreign policy an outlet to support their neighbor: Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico previously vowed he would not send any ammunition to Ukraine. The funds raised will go to the Czech government’s initiative to buy shells for the Ukrainian armed forces.