A former supreme allied commander for NATO said recently that the United States has to provide more military and financial aid to Ukraine because their aim to defeat Russia in their war is “just.”
While appearing on a radio show with John Catsimatidis on Sunday, James Stavridis – a retired Navy admiral – talked at length about the plight that Ukraine is going through as it attempts to fight back Russia.
As he said on the show:
“It’s a very dangerous situation and here, the real action is actually not in Kyiv. The real action is in Washington. We’ve got to provide the military support to Ukraine. Their cause is just.”
Lawmakers departed from Washington, D.C., last week for their standard extended holiday break, and they weren’t able to come to an agreement on a new military aid package for Ukraine before they did so.
President Joe Biden has pleaded for Congress to authorize more aid to support the war effort that Ukraine is undertaking. The White House, in fact, has requested another $61 billion for Ukraine.
To this point, though, many Republicans have balked at sending more aid Ukraine’s way, unless they receive some concessions from Democrats on border security. That’s something that the Biden administration has signaled they are open to, because they feel that additional Ukraine aid is so important.
If a new package isn’t approved, the White House said that it will no longer have more money to give to Ukraine for military support as of December 30.
During his appearance on the radio show, Stavridis said that Ukraine is in desperate need of more from the U.S., and that America does have the resources to do so – and should do so.
In the war, which is going on almost two years now, nearly half of the total Russian army has been destroyed. All of this has happened, to, without any American soldier being killed “or even placed at risk,” as Stavridis said.
Ukraine has been able to thwart the forces put forth by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with only using “the equivalent of 5%” of America’s annual defense budget.
As he explained further:
“We can afford to do this, and we should. So, I’m worried about the war in Ukraine only if the U.S. and our European allies fail to live up to the commitment we’ve made to support Ukraine.”
Stavridis’ comments come one day after The Washington Post issued a report that said Ukraine’s military has a shortage on the front line of artillery shells. Because of this, the military there has had to cancel some of its planned assaults.
There are also some fears about whether the Ukrainian troops will be able to continue to hold ground against the ongoing Russian attacks.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the war was now entering a new stage, as winter could complicate the fighting. As he said to The Associated Press:
“Look, we are not backing down. I am satisfied. We are fighting with the second [best] army in the world. I am satisfied.
“We are losing people. I’m not satisfied. We didn’t get all the weapons we wanted. I can’t be satisfied, but I also can’t complain too much.”
