The Ukrainian lieutenant was in a firing position on the Eastern Front, commanding an artillery unit that relied on U.S.-supplied M777 howitzers and other large guns. as U.S. lawmakers gather in Washington to decide whether ammunition shortages will force the withdrawal of artillery.
But when the lieutenant returned to base Saturday night, he heard the news he and millions of Ukrainians had been waiting for.
“I had just finished my shift change and was entering the building when my colleagues informed me that Congress had finally approved the aid package for Ukraine,'' said Lieutenant Oleksandar, who gave only his first name. He spoke accordingly. . “We hope this aid package reaches us as soon as possible.”
The decision by American lawmakers to resume military aid after months of costly delays was greeted with a collective sigh of relief and an outpouring of gratitude across a bruised and bloody Ukraine. Soldiers and civilians said that while it may have been slow, the U.S. aid meant more than bullets and bombs.
It brought something just as important: hope.
Immediately after the parliamentary vote passed, Ukrainians expressed their gratitude and joy on social media, posting Star-Spangled Banner memes that mixed Ukrainian imagery with American symbols such as the Statue of Liberty.
“My eyes are filled with tears,” Anton Gerashchenko, founder of the research group “Ukrainian Institute for the Future,” said in a message. “There is so much suffering, so much pain. We have lost so many friends and wonderful people in these terrible years of war. Now there is hope to save more lives of those still alive.”
The $60 billion military aid package approved by the House of Representatives will be voted on in the Senate and is expected to be signed by President Biden on Tuesday. The Pentagon said it could resume arms shipments to Ukraine within days through established logistics networks.
The Pentagon has not provided details on what the first aid package will include, but the United States will provide large amounts of the ammunition the Ukrainian military most desperately needs, including artillery shells and precision rockets for long-range attacks. provided a portion.
Ukrainian officials say this will likely also replenish Ukraine's short- and medium-range air defense systems, which include missiles capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, which have been used to have devastating effects on Ukraine's energy grid. says it will be helpful.
While some supplies, such as artillery shells, may start arriving relatively quickly, both Ukrainian military commanders and military analysts have warned that it will be weeks before U.S. aid begins to have a direct impact on the fighting. .
“Thus, the situation on the front is likely to continue to deteriorate in the meantime, especially if Russian forces take advantage of the limited time frame until new U.S. aid arrives to step up attacks,” the Washington War Study said. analysts said. a research group based on the research group wrote over the weekend.
Lieutenant Oleksandar said the Russian military has recently appeared determined to commit more resources to the fight as soon as possible to take advantage of Ukraine's depleted weaponry.
“The Russians will not tolerate air strikes or artillery,” he said. “Each of our cannons can fire up to two to three lancets a day, but each lancet costs more than the cannon itself,” he said of one of Russia's most sophisticated drones. ” he said.
Franz Stefan Gadi, a senior consulting fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that even with U.S. support, the air defense situation “will remain difficult in the coming months.” However, he said European countries would be able to increase their own arms production if US aid resumed.
Former Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan, a researcher at the Sydney-based research group Lowy Institute, said while air defense and artillery replenishment would be Ukraine's top priorities, the bill would I also wrote that I admit that there is no such thing. support. This includes “spare parts for U.S. tanks and armored vehicles, drones, mortars, radios, engineering equipment, and much of the equipment needed on the modern battlefield,” he wrote on his Substack page. writing.
Since the flow of U.S. aid to Ukraine stopped earlier this year, Russia has been able to seize more than 360 square kilometers (about 139 square miles) of land, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
As Ukraine is forced to pivot to national defense, Russia's arsenal is strengthened by missile and drone deliveries from Iran and North Korea, while aid from China helps Russia ease the impact of sanctions. , helping the Kremlin transform its economy into a secure state. Scaffolding during wartime.
U.S. officials say Russia has also succeeded in replacing more than 315,000 soldiers killed and wounded in the fighting.
Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. European Command, said in Congressional testimony before Saturday's vote that Russia's military is now 15% larger than it was when it invaded Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is preparing for a major offensive in late spring or early summer.
Russia has so far failed to exploit Ukraine's lack of troops and weapons to achieve a major breakthrough, but military analysts say it may still be able to make significant progress in the coming weeks. I'm warning you that you can't.
Russian forces continued to advance Saturday around Lieutenant Oleksandar's firing position, west of the city of Avdiivka. They are also attacking the strategically important hilltop fortress of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine.
If Kremlin forces were to capture key high ground in the region, it would threaten the Donbass region's largest urban agglomeration, which remains under Ukrainian control.
At the same time, Russia continued to bombard towns and cities across the country with long-range drone and missile attacks, destroying homes, port infrastructure, and energy facilities.
Ukraine's allies have said they are rushing to find more sophisticated air defense systems, such as the U.S.-made Patriots deployed across Europe to support Kiev, but Ukrainians say Moscow is The hope is that the system is trying to do as much damage as possible before it arrives.
Every day for more than two years, rescue workers have raced to rescue people from the rubble of bombed buildings from Odessa on the Black Sea to Sumy, near the Russian border in northern Ukraine. It was conducted.
“But today it is still a little different,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address to the nation on Saturday night. “Today, we received a long-awaited decision: the U.S. aid package we have fought so hard for.”
The Kremlin, which U.S. lawmakers say is orchestrating a sophisticated campaign to shape U.S. public opinion and undermine support for Ukraine, responded with a mix of expletives and fury. Ta.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov said military aid would only contribute to Ukraine's “ruin.” He said the US “will have to answer for that” if the bill's provisions that allow the US to seize billions of dollars in frozen Russian central bank assets to pay for Ukraine's reconstruction are used. he warned.
Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Kirchenko, 30, commander of a Ukrainian brigade fighting near Robotyn on the Southern Front, said the new weapons would allow Ukrainians to fight “even harder and with more courage.”
“This support from the American community will save the lives of our soldiers and strengthen them across the front lines,” he said. “We will use this aid to strengthen our military and end a war that Russia should lose.”
The vote in the House also lifted the spirits of the volunteer military, which has helped sustain Ukrainian soldiers throughout the war.
“This is a great day,” said Olena Detzel, founder of Three in a Canoe, a volunteer organization that raises money for the emergency needs of soldiers.
“The news of financial support from the US is like a breath of fresh air,” she said in a text message. “It gives us an understanding that we are not alone in this fight.”
Liubov Sholudko contributed reporting.