US President Joe Biden will address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, including US aid to Kyiv, as his administration prepares another round of about $800 million in security aid.
The United States announced a similarly sized package last week, and the new aid is expected to include more artillery, which will likely be key to the fighting in eastern Donbass.
Earlier in the week, Biden confirmed to reporters that he is sending more artillery to Ukraine.
“Of the $3.5 billion that Congress has allocated for this fiscal year, we have used more than $2.4 billion to provide Ukraine with the military equipment and capabilities it needs to defend itself ‘ a senior government official told Biden dem Voice of America.
“We continue to look for additional security assistance that we can provide to Ukraine and there are other authorities to turn to if needed,” he added.
The $3.5 billion is part of Ukraine’s $13.6 billion additional appropriations law passed by Congress in March.
President consults with military leaders
As Russia launched fresh attacks on the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Wednesday, Biden urged his military leadership to get the latest assessment of the Russian invasion.
“I want to hear from all of you your perspectives on what you’re seeing on the ground and in our forces,” Biden told military officials at the White House ahead of their meeting. “The strategic environment is evolving rapidly around the world, but that means our plans and troop deployment must be equally dynamic.”
Biden met with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and about two dozen other military leaders and national security advisers.
Earlier Wednesday, the United States imposed new sanctions on dozens more people and entities accused of circumventing ongoing financial sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
“The Ministry of Finance sanctioned Transkapitalbank, a major Russian commercial bank that has offered services to banks worldwide to circumvent international sanctions, and more than 40 individuals and entities that are part of a Russian sanctions-circumvention network led by Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
Psaki claimed Washington has also imposed sanctions on companies in Russia’s mining industry and imposed visa restrictions on more than 600 people in response to human rights abuses by Russia and Belarus.
Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow and director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution VOA that alongside military aid and economic sanctions, Washington must begin to consider plausible outcomes of the conflict.
“And then consider what we can do to encourage the parties to work with other external actors, maybe even the Chinese, to try to achieve a place where we can all live, versus the alternative.” that this will turn into a multi-month or even multi-year conflict,” O’Hanlon said. “But in the short term, we’re just trying to help the Ukrainians not lose the fight.”
Mariupol
More than 100,000 Ukrainians are believed to be trapped in Mariupol, where 400,000 people lived before Russia invaded the country on February 24.
“The conditions there are really terrible,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a meeting in Panama on Wednesday. He stressed that attempts by humanitarian corridors to allow Mariupol residents to escape “fell apart very quickly.”
The battle for Mariupol is part of a broader Russian offensive in the strategically important Donbass region, where Moscow is increasing its military presence.
“Moscow’s current goal is to expand its control to the east and south. Ideally, they would like to control Kharkiv and Odessa,” he said VOA John E. Herbst, Executive Director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and former US Ambassador to Ukraine. “But these are tough orders. They may have to settle for Mariupol.”
On March 25, after losses in northern Ukraine, Moscow announced a major change in strategy, withdrawing troops from the north, including the suburbs of the capital Kyiv, to consolidate forces in Donbass and establish an overland bridge to Crimea.
Analysts say that if Russian forces gain full control of Donbass, their diplomats will have a stronger hand in peace negotiations and will be in a better position to demand autonomy for the region.
[Anita Powell y Steve Redisch de VOA contribuyeron a este informe. Contiene información de The Associated Press y Reuters]
Connect to the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel youtube and turn on notifications or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.