Note to President Biden: it's time to kick some rear ends to get aid delivered immediately to Ukrainian forces trying to repel Russian attacks. This has been a problem almost from the beginning of the brutal Russian invasion in February 2022: supplies are often not what Ukraine is urgently in need of, and once approved, they're delays in getting there. Of course, pro-Putin MAGA Republicans blocked new U.S. aid for months before passing the President's aid bill last month. From Reuters:
"Ukraine will receive its first supplies of F-16 fighter jets 'very soon', but around half of its desperately needed foreign military aid is arriving late, Kyiv's defence minister has said.
Rustem Umerov, 42, told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv late on Monday that Russia was deploying more manpower and equipment to the front, more than 27 months after its full-scale invasion.
Kyiv's forces have managed to stabilise the new front in the northeastern Kharkiv region where Russia attacked earlier this month. But Umerov said Moscow was preparing for a new push.
'Their objective is to open a new front in the north to start using all their manpower, firing power, against us, they are continuing with their objective to destroy the nation,' he said.
'We are withstanding, but of course we need more weapons, we need more firing power, we need long-range missiles, not to allow them to enter our state.'
He said Ukraine was grateful for the military aid and weapons supplied by its partners, but that only half of the promised deliveries arrived on time. Every delay benefited Ukraine's much larger and better-equipped foe, with a front line stretching 1,200 km (750 miles)." (our emphasis)
This is a problem throughout the NATO alliance: promises about arms deliveries not kept in a timely fashion. There's also a sense that the Russian aggressors have exploited the Administration's fears regarding its policy of not permitting Ukraine to strike military targets inside Russia with weapons we've provided (ATACMS, in particular). That policy is, belatedly, under discussion inside the Administration. The longer a decision is not reached, the more Putin calculates that the collective resolve of the West is weakening, creating an even more dangerous situation.
(photo: Pallets of ammunition being loaded for transfer to Ukraine. Airman 1st Class Cydney Lee, U.S. Air Force)
