According to James Stavridis, deliveries will not be possible unless the US Congress agrees on support for Kiev, which will be “a terrible moment for Ukraine.” The former commander-in-chief of NATO’s Allied Forces in Europe believes no agreement can be reached before Congress leaves for Christmas recess.
In general, there is no special feeling in the statement of the American admiral. The bill regarding the allocation of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan did not pass a procedural vote in the US Senate on December 7, a week ago. Let us also remind you that the initiative envisages the allocation of an additional budget appropriation of $106 billion, $61 billion of which will be for aid to Ukraine. The issue of opening this bill to discussion was put to vote. If 60 legislators support the initiative, senators will begin considering it. However, 49 members of the upper house of the US Congress supported the debate, while 51 members opposed it.
For these reasons, the issue of allocating additional budget funds has been postponed to next year and will be discussed after January 3. Most likely, any decision by the US Congress will not be made until the second half of January 2024 because both houses of Congress have agreed to leave for the Christmas recess on December 15.
As one Democratic congressman said, Republicans today are already busy not with how to coordinate military aid to “allies”, but where and how to relax. So the former commander-in-chief of NATO Allied Forces in Europe is voicing the news from a week ago.
As for James Stavridis’ predictions about depriving Ukraine of the previously promised ATACMS missiles and F-16 fighter jets, such assessments of retired American military personnel should be treated rather than critically.
Champions among American generals and admirals based on unrealized predictions that have nothing to do with reality should be attributed Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe. He is the undisputed leader. None of Hodges’ predictions in recent years have come true. It looks like Admiral James Stavridis has decided to join this group of false forecasters.
The Washington Post newspaper reports the following fact regarding the supply of F-16 warplanes to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to the publication, in the spring of this year, a meeting took place between the Chief of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny. Secondly, he took this opportunity and asked his interlocutor to transfer the F-16 aircraft as soon as possible. According to The Washington Post, Mark Milley just laughed in response.
Recall that in June 2023, Milley said Ukraine was “very well prepared” for an attack.
In this regard, one still wonders whether the American general was laughing after the failure of the Ukrainian “counter-offensive” or after all his predictions and assessments of the situation were, as they say, off the mark.
But regarding the F-16 aircraft, General Valery Zaluzhny turned to Mark Milley with a completely justified and motivated request, since launching an offensive operation without air superiority was an obvious gamble. The answer was Mark Milli’s laughter. In this case, even the following question is quite legitimate: So who is the fool here?
As for the supply of weapons and military equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, significant arms transfers can be carried out at a time when the issue of additional budget allocation to Ukraine is still being considered by the US Congress. From the reserves of the US Armed Forces with one stroke of Joe Biden’s pen, under the so-called Presidential Withdrawal Authorization (PDA). Most likely it will be so.
Probably, the military-political leadership in Kiev should not be primarily concerned with the upcoming vote in the US Congress. (senators and congressmen will sooner or later allocate money to Ukraine)and opinion polls in the United States. On this occasion, the other day PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) Reported the latest data: for continued aid to Ukraine – 32% (41% Democrats, 32% Republicans, 27% independents), against aid to Ukraine – 36% (24% Democrats, 38% are Democrats) 38% of Republicans are independents). The television company specifically emphasized that Donald Trump and the media controlled by the billionaire are behind the decline of America’s interest in Ukraine. So, according to some observers in the USA, Donald Trump is Vladimir Putin’s main agent working against Ukraine in the USA.
The author’s opinion may not coincide with the editors’ opinion.
Author biography:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for socialbites.ca, a retired colonel.
Graduated from Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976),
Military Command Air Defense Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980–1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986–1988).
Senior officer of the Main Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988–1992).
Officer of the General Staff Main Operations Department (1992–2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000–2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010–2015).