The war in Israel has pushed the war in Ukraine off the news pages for the most part. Unfortunately, that means that there's less pressure on Washington to approve Joe Biden's request for $61 billion in aid to Kyiv.
That pressure is needed because of a lack of significant progress by Ukraine's armed forces in their much-touted counteroffensive that began last spring. It just hasn't worked out the way that Kyiv had hoped. The Russian defenses were just too good, too well constructed for Ukraine to achieve any kind of a major breakthrough.
What Ukraine was unable to win on the battlefield, perhaps, it believes, it can win in the propaganda sphere.
Reports of Ukraine gaining a foothold on the left bank of the Dnipro River surprised many observers in the West. And the timing couldn't have been better.
Ukraine was in desperate need of good news, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak supplied it while in Washington last week. He claimed that the Ukrainian advance had established a "sustained presence" on the left bank of the river "against all odds."
There were several other reports of successful river crossings that made it appear that a significant "bridgehead" had been established.
It was a mirage.
A pro-Ukrainian Telegram channel that closely tracks military operations said Thursday that “several small footholds had to be abandoned” on the Dnipro’s left bank.
“The situation is absolutely normal,” the Telegram channel said, adding that some of the repositioning was meant to draw Russian forces and because some positions were too costly or impractical to hold.
You can hardly blame Ukraine for fudging the truth. The Ukrainian people are in a struggle for the life of their nation, and you wouldn't expect anything less. But that's certainly not doing their cause any good with the U.S. Congress.
Congressional observers think that some kind of aid package (almost certainly not $61 billion) will be approved before the Christmas recess, if then.
Ukraine’s congressional backers are engaged in a tough battle over an expansive aid package whose fate is now enmeshed in a partisan fight over border policies and torn from must-pass bills that would prompt swift action.
The soonest Congress could complete negotiations and pass new Ukraine assistance is mid-December, nearly two months after President Joe Biden first requested $61 billion for the country in its war against Russia.
The US has begun restricting the flow of military assistance because of the wait, according to a Defense Department spokeswoman.
“We need to push ourselves to negotiate over the next week,” Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat with close ties to Biden, said on Thursday.
“The Ukrainians are running out of fuel, weapons and ammunition,” Coons added. Congress must act “on a timeline that’s going to matter.”
Meanwhile, Europe is stepping up its support for Ukraine, although not at the level needed to replace Washington's contributions.
Germany plans to double its aid next year to $8 billion. That makes Berlin the second-largest military aid contributor to Ukraine behind the United States. That's pretty pathetic when you consider how warlike the rhetoric from Berlin, London, Paris, and other European capitals has been.
The European Union is planning a $54 billion economic aid package over the next four years, but that won't help much if an independent Ukraine isn't there to accept it.
Tying Ukraine aid to a border/immigration bill is a good idea. But including issues that will never be passed by the Democratic Senate is just more posturing by the hard right.
The mere promise of legislation won’t placate Johnson’s restive right flank, which now wants to tie distribution of Ukraine aid dollars to achieving specific targets in bringing down border crossings. That would leave the timeline for weaponry uncertain, even after congressional approval.
That is truly inspired nuttiness. The Senate won't even consider it.
There's the making of a historic deal that would at least partially address the crisis at the border and resupply the Ukrainians. It will need Democratic support to pass, which, once again, won't please the Freedom Caucus and the hard right.
