Leading US Official: There Is No “Silver Bullet” for Ukraine in Long-Awaited Military Assistance

Washington: Ukraine’s long-awaited $61 billion assistance package is now being acknowledged by the US as not a “silver bullet.”

Manpower shortages in Kyiv’s beleaguered military have come to light as arms and ammunition are being poured into the nation.

According to commentators, Ukraine’s position on the battlefield has been further damaged by the months-long delay in enacting the assistance package, which was brought on by squabbling among US politicians.

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After the package cleared Congress and was swiftly signed into law on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said that it “should have gotten there sooner.”

Although the assistance package “will make a difference,” his national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, cautioned that “there is no silver bullet in this conflict.”

Sullivan said during a White House briefing that “one capability is not going to be the ultimate solution,” but that “Ukraine’s position in this conflict will improve and we believe that Ukraine can and will win.”

Following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Kyiv has been mostly dependent on US military assistance worth billions of dollars to fight Russia.

However, Ukrainian forces have found it difficult to repel Russian soldiers in recent months due to being outmanned and outgunned.

Furthermore, until last week’s passage of the new deal, Congress, which is mired down, had not authorized significant money for Kyiv since December 2022. The United States is Ukraine’s primary source of military support.

It has around $14 billion in it to support the Ukrainian army’s demands for equipment, training, and finances.

scarcity of manpower
According to Garret Martin of the American University School of International Service in Washington, there was a cost associated with the US legislators’ protracted delay in approving the assistance package.

“The aid can shore up Ukraine but it’s not a magic wand that could fix all the challenges they face,” Martin said.

“What the package cannot do is deal with the shortage of manpower,” he said.

The White House said that Biden and his colleague Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine have spoken about the labor shortage.

The minimum age for military conscription was lowered from 27 to 25 in Kiev in April, opening up the draft to thousands more males.

Additionally, as part of efforts to encourage military-age Ukrainian men to come home and fight, it stopped issuing new passports to them overseas this week.

According to Max Bergmann of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, European initiatives will determine how American assistance performs.

“European nations need to ramp up (weapons) production now,” added Bergmann.

“Europe’s goal should be to put itself in a position to potentially fill a future gap left by the United States should it not pass another supplemental.”

According to Bergmann, 2024 should be used by Ukraine to “hold the line, exhaust, and attrit Russian forces,” with a Kyiv attack perhaps possible the following year.