Pentagon Prepares Major Ukraine Aid

If everything goes according to plan, the weapons will reach the front in less than a week. The Department of Defense warned that without urgent actions at the Capitol, Ukraine would continually lose more ground to Russian forces and suffer a staggering number of casualties.

An official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that after finalizing the foreign aid bill worth £76 billion, getting some of the weapons to the battlefield will take less than a week. The bill includes providing Ukraine with more than £48 million.

The newspaper claims that the package "almost certainly" will include ammunition for systems heavily relied upon by Ukrainian personnel, including 155 mm rounds used in NATO howitzers and medium-range artillery ammunition.

"As the aid bill languished in Congress for months, officials in Washington and Kyiv said Ukraine’s front-line units were rationing a rapidly evaporating stockpile of armaments and that soon Moscow would have a 10-to-1 advantage in artillery rounds."

It is also likely that the Pentagon will deliver to Ukraine a fresh tranche of equipment and ammunition for air defence, which is essential for combating Russia's merciless campaign against the country's civilian infrastructure. On Thursday, NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said that he is meeting with allies to discuss ways to strengthen such capabilities, with a special focus on the advanced Patriot system.

The United States has provided Kyiv with military aid worth nearly £36 billion since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The last aid package, worth £240 million, was prepared in March.

US support for the war in Ukraine has divided the Republican Party. The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, delayed considering the funding bill, overcoming fierce opposition from far-right members of his group. With the help of Democrats on Friday, he pushed through procedural measures, which prepare the ground for voting this weekend, though it may cost him his leadership position.

In Ukraine - as the situation on the battlefield worsens due to shortages of ammunition and personnel - officials are becoming increasingly frustrated with Washington's paralysis.

In February, Ukrainian forces withdrew from Avdiivka. The city had been defended for over a year. Kyiv stated this happened because there was no ammunition in the stores. Across the entire front, Ukrainian soldiers are dealing with such serious ammunition shortages that they're rationing shells, making the artillery units unable to protect the infantry.

Russia is taking the opportunity and has launched an assault on Chasiv Yar. At the same time, it conducts massive attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. Moscow also attacked the cities of Chernihiv and Dnipro, causing the death of many people. Ukrainian officials claim that both attacks could have been prevented if Ukraine had the necessary air defence supplies.