How can the Pentagon arm Ukraine amid stalled aid package?

The Pentagon is mulling workarounds to arm Ukraine because the nation faces extreme ammunition and artillery shortages amid latest Russian advances. However the division is restricted in its capacity to fill the hole given President Joe Biden’s funding request for extra Ukraine navy support stays stalled in Congress.

One stopgap possibility would switch further weapons from U.S. shares with out funding to replenish that tools. An alternative choice makes use of the Extra Protection Articles program to ship U.S. tools to third-party nations that then ship older weapons to Kyiv.

The European Union can also be stepping up its help. It handed $54 billion in financial help for Ukraine after Hungary dropped its opposition.

However none of those stopgap measures to staunch the bleeding come near the inflow of arms for Kyiv that Congress may unlock if it passes the $95 billion overseas support invoice for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

“The consequence of not doing so is probably going Ukraine’s defeat,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., informed Protection Information final week after coming back from a congressional delegation to Europe. “There’s not a plan B there. There’s actually extra that Europe may do, however there are particular weapons methods that solely america can present and preserve. And there’s a exhausting restrict to the quantity of sources Europe can put in if america chooses to depart the coalition.”

Ukrainian officers additionally attributed Russia’s latest conquest of Avdiivka to the dearth of obtainable weaponry when Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., led a congressional delegation to the war-torn nation final week.

Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has refused to carry a vote on the overseas support invoice, which incorporates $48.3 billion in further navy help for Ukraine. The Senate handed the invoice 70-29 earlier this month over objections from former President Donald Trump, the probably Republican presidential nominee.

Congress handed a cumulative $113 billion in navy and financial support for Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, however has not supplied further funding since December 2022.

Biden hosted congressional leaders on the White Home on Tuesday, the place he joined Democrats and outgoing Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in pushing Johnson to go the invoice.

Within the meantime, the Pentagon is weighing whether or not it ought to use roughly $4 billion left of drawdown authority to proceed arming Ukraine from U.S. weapons stockpiles, though it doesn’t have the cash to replenish these inventories with out the overseas support invoice, CNN reported Wednesday.

The Pentagon didn’t immediately tackle deliberations about transferring further weapons with out replenishment funding.

“The [Defense Department] continues to induce Congress to go a supplemental to help Ukraine in its time of want and to replenish our shares,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Garron Garn informed Protection Information in an announcement.

The Pentagon used its final $1 billion in Ukraine replenishment funding to backfill U.S. stockpiles in December, with the White Home noting that may be the final remaining help, absent congressional motion.

“At situation right here once more is the query of impacting our personal readiness, as a nation, and the duties that we have now,” Pentagon press secretary Gen. Patrick Ryder mentioned final month. “Whereas we do have that $4.2 billion in authority, we don’t have the funds accessible to replenish these shares, ought to we expend that. And with no timeline in sight, we have now to make these exhausting choices.”

The remaining $4.2 billion in Ukraine switch authority stems from an accounting error the Pentagon made final yr. The error prompted Pentagon Inspector Common Robert Storch to announce an audit of the valuation of weapons despatched to Ukraine.

Extra Protection Articles

One other, extra restricted possibility includes third-party nations transferring Soviet-era tools to Ukraine in change for extra U.S. weapons via the Pentagon’s Extra Protection Articles program. This system additionally permits the U.S. to ship tools that helps nations transition away from Russian arms.

“America is offering safety help to companions equivalent to Ecuador and Zambia to assist them transition off Russian tools, however there’s extra we are able to and should do,” the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, Jessica Lewis, mentioned in December.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa mentioned in January that the U.S. would ship $200 million in refurbished weapons to assist combat cartels in change for “scrap” tools. However Noboa backtracked final week after Russia imposed a ban on Ecuadorian banana and clove imports.

“To our shock, america has publicly said that this tools can be used within the armed battle in Ukraine, and we don’t wish to be a part of it,” Noboa mentioned.

The Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported in January that the U.S. is offering Greece with tools via the Extra Protection Articles program, together with two C-130H plane, three Protector-class ships and 60 Bradley armored combating autos.

“Greece has supplied substantial navy help to Ukraine, together with Soviet-era BMP infantry combating autos, artillery and small arms,” the U.S. State Division informed Protection Information. “We thank the federal government of Greece for its generosity and encourage further donations, sooner or later.”

The Protection Safety Cooperation Company, which oversees the Extra Protection Articles program, has not up to date the general public checklist of transfers since 2020, regardless of a congressional requirement that it achieve this. As such, it’s unclear what different nations are receiving U.S. weapons via this system.

The company informed Protection Information it expects to replace the checklist inside “a number of weeks” however didn’t clarify why updates stopped in 2020.

Noah Robertson contributed to this report.