{"id":31880,"date":"2024-04-21T10:42:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T10:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/21\/vote-to-resume-u-s-military-aid-is-met-with-relief-in-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2024-04-21T10:42:17","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T10:42:17","slug":"vote-to-resume-u-s-military-aid-is-met-with-relief-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/21\/vote-to-resume-u-s-military-aid-is-met-with-relief-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote to Resume U.S. Military Aid Is Met With Relief in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/21\/multimedia\/21ukraine-reax-1-zcjt\/21ukraine-reax-1-zcjt-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Vote to Resume U.S. Military Aid Is Met With Relief in Ukraine\" title=\"Vote to Resume U.S. Military Aid Is Met With Relief in Ukraine\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Ukrainian lieutenant was at a firing position on the eastern front, commanding an artillery unit relying on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/23\/world\/europe\/us-ukraine-howitzers.html\" title=\"\">American-provided M777 howitzers<\/a> and other big guns, as U.S. lawmakers gathered in Washington to decide if his cannons would be forced to go silent for lack of ammunition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But when the lieutenant returned to his base on Saturday night, he got the news that he and millions of Ukrainians had been praying to hear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI had just entered the building after a shift change when the guys informed me that the aid package for Ukraine had finally been approved by Congress,\u201d said the lieutenant, who is identified only by his first name, Oleksandar, in line with military protocol. \u201cWe hope this aid package will reach us as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The decision by American lawmakers to resume military assistance after months of costly delay was greeted with a collective sigh of relief and an outpouring of gratitude across a battered and bloodied Ukraine. It may have been late in coming, soldiers and civilians said, but American support meant more than bullets and bombs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It offered something equally important: hope.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The $60 billion <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/20\/us\/politics\/ukraine-aid-bill-gaza-johnson.html\" title=\"\">military assistance package<\/a> approved by the House is expected to be voted on by the Senate and signed by President Biden as early as Tuesday. The Pentagon has said it could resume sending weapons to Ukraine within days through a well-established logistics network.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some items, like artillery shells, could start arriving relatively quickly, but both Ukrainian commanders and military analysts cautioned that it would take weeks before the U.S. assistance started to have a direct impact on the fight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe frontline situation will therefore likely continue to deteriorate in that time, particularly if Russian forces increase their attacks to take advantage of the limited window before the arrival of new U.S. aid,\u201d analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.understandingwar.org\/backgrounder\/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-20-2024\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote over the weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lieutenant Oleksandar said the Russians had appeared determined recently to throw as many resources into the battle as quickly as possible to take advantage of Ukraine\u2019s depleted arsenal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Russians spare nothing, neither air bombs nor artillery,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can fire up to two or three Lancets for every one of our cannons in a day, where one Lancet costs more than the cannon itself,\u201d he said, referring to one of Russia\u2019s most sophisticated drones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since American aid stopped flowing into Ukraine this year, Russia has been able to seize more than <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/understandingwar.org\/backgrounder\/america%E2%80%99s-stark-choice-ukraine-and-cost-letting-russia-win#:~:text=Since%20the%20beginning%20of%20this,accelerate%20absent%20urgent%20American%20action.\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">360 square kilometers, or about 139 square miles, of land<\/a> \u2014 an area about the size of Philadelphia, according to the Institute for the Study of War.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Ukraine was forced to shift to defense, the Russian arsenal has been bolstered by the delivery of missiles and drones from <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/04\/us\/politics\/north-korea-russia-missiles.html?searchResultPosition=5\" title=\"\">Iran and North Korea<\/a>, while economic support from China has helped Moscow mitigate the impact of sanctions, helping the Kremlin to convert its economy to a wartime footing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russia has also managed to replace the more than 315,000 troops that have been killed or wounded in battle, according to American officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Russian army is now 15 percent larger than it was when it invaded Ukraine, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the head of U.S. European Command, said in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Udg1C7boaLg\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">testimony to Congress<\/a> before Saturday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOver the past year, Russia increased its front line troop strength from 360,000 to 470,000,\u201d he said. Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is setting the stage for a larger offensive in the late spring or early summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While the Russians have so far failed to exploit Ukraine\u2019s deficit in both men and arms to achieve a major breakthrough, military analysts warned they may still be able to make significant advances in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russian forces continue to advance west of the city of Avdiivka, around Lieutenant Oleksandar\u2019s firing position on Saturday. They are also pounding the strategically important hilltop fortress of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, exploiting growing gaps in Kyiv\u2019s depleted air defenses to obliterate Ukrainian fortifications with powerful one-ton bombs dropped from warplanes able to fly ever closer to the front.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If the Kremlin\u2019s forces can seize the vitally important high ground in the area, an agglomeration of the largest cities in the Donbas region still under Ukrainian control would be threatened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the same time, Russia continued to hit towns and cities across the country with long-range drone and missile strikes, leveling houses, port infrastructure and energy facilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukraine\u2019s allies have said they are racing to find more sophisticated air defense systems like the American-made Patriots located around Europe to help Kyiv, but Ukrainians expect Moscow to try and do as much damage as it can before those systems arrive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As they have done day after day for more than two years, rescue workers from Odesa on the Black Sea to Sumy near Ukraine\u2019s northern border with Russia raced to pull people from the rubble of bombed-out buildings as the House voted on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBut this day is still a little different,\u201d President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his Saturday night address to the nation. \u201cToday, we received the long-awaited decision: the American support package we\u2019ve been fighting for so hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Zelensky said its impact would soon be felt \u201cby both our warriors on the frontline and our cities and villages suffering from Russian terror.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Kremlin, which U.S. lawmakers have said is orchestrating a sophisticated campaign to shape American public opinion and undermine support for Ukraine, reacted with a mix of bluster and fury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dmitri A. Medvedev, the former president and the deputy chairman of the Kremlin\u2019s security council, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/medvedev_telegram\/483\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">issued a statement<\/a> wishing \u201cwith all sincerity\u201d that the United States \u201cplunge into a new civil war as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Kremlin\u2019s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/tass_agency\/244989\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> the military assistance would only contribute to the \u201cruin\u201d of Ukraine. If provisions in the legislation that allow the United States to seize billions in frozen Russian central bank assets to pay for the rebuilding of Ukraine are used, he warned, America \u201cwill have to answer for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lt. Col. Oleksii Khilchenko, a 30-year-old Ukrainian brigade commander fighting around Robotyne on the southern front, said the new weapons would allow Ukrainians to fight \u201ceven more fiercely and with all their courage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis support from American society will save the lives of our soldiers and bolster them across the entire front line,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will use this assistance to strengthen our military and bring an end to this war \u2014 a war that Russia must lose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The vote in the House also lifted the spirits of the army of volunteers who have helped sustain Ukrainian soldiers throughout the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cA wonderful day today,\u201d said Olena Detsel, founder of the volunteer organization, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/troevkanoe.org\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Three in a Canoe<\/a>, which raises money for urgent needs for soldiers, including helping those who have lost limbs in battle get medical treatment in America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe news of financial support from the U.S.A. is like a breath of fresh air,\u201d she said. \u201cIt brings the understanding that we are not alone in this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Liubov Sholudko contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/21\/world\/europe\/ukraine-military-aid-bill.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ukrainian lieutenant was at a firing position on the eastern front, commanding an artillery unit relying on American-provided M777 howitzers and other big guns, as U.S. lawmakers gathered in Washington to decide if his cannons would be forced to go silent for lack of ammunition. But when the lieutenant returned to his base on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/21\/multimedia\/21ukraine-reax-1-zcjt\/21ukraine-reax-1-zcjt-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,7109,2198,6661,18573,221,1130,901],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31882,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31880\/revisions\/31882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}