The occupant of the White House will change and the attitude of US policy towards support for Ukraine is already changing. According to the New York Timesin the meeting between Republican deputies held behind closed doors yesterday, the speaker of the House Mike Johnson he would report to the representative Marjorie Taylor Greenepolitician and businesswoman elected in Georgia from 2021, that no more money will be sent to Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, in February 2022, the Congress of United States voted for five bills to supply the president’s troops Zelensky continuous aid, the last of which was in April this year. The total amount declared by the US treasuries is 175 billion dollarsof which 106 sent directly and the remaining 69 used to produce weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian defense, except for a small part used for aid materials for the management of refugees and assistance to the civilian population. This is without counting what was sent by dozens of other countries, including most of the members of the Born and most of the members of the European Union. Also yesterday, the Pentagon spokesman, General Pat Ryderdeclared that of the large quantity of weapons promised by Biden to Zelensky 83% of the ammunition, almost 70% of the air defenses and 60% of the weapons whose delivery was approved only seven months ago have already been delivered.
“Since April we have delivered hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, thousands of armored vehicles, ammunition and anti-tank weapons, dozens of howitzers, we have provided significant air defense capabilities, a Patriot battery, hundreds of effectors to intercept missiles and dozens of other systems. The deliveries of the strategic air defense system that we have committed to providing to our partners at the top of NATO are almost complete”, explained the senior officer, also confirming that $3.7 billion in weapons were removed from US stockpiles thanks to the twelve presidential authorizations announced between the end of April and mid-October.
On the other front, the Ukrainian Finance Minister, Serhiy Marchenkoexplained that the direct monetary support of the USA since February 2022 it has reached 28.2 billion dollars, while Denys ShmyhalPrime Minister of Zelenskypublished a post on the social network Telegram in which he says that part of that figure, just over 1.3 billion, Washington he would have given it as a non-repayable grant, but that is money intended for humanitarian aid, education and services. Now the possible reduction of the US commitment causes concerns within the European Commission, with the Union’s high representative for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Borrellwho in the plenary meeting of the European Parliament in Brussels, held on the strategies of EU-US relations in the aftermath of the elections, underlined how Kiev wishes to be reassured about the reactions of European nations if Trump should impose new conditions to confirm its military support for Ukraine. So far the EU has lined up for continuous and almost unconditional support for Ukraine so that it can defend itself, but a reduction in American resources would make it almost impossible for Europe to be able to replace them.
Second Borrell the USA supplied about 25% more than the Europeans, who if they were to replace Washington would have to face enormous expense. What Borrell what he didn’t say is that this would inevitably fall on the citizens of the Union. Hope is now placed in the relationships between Donald Trump And Vladimir Putin; as soon as re-elected, the American would have spoken to the head of the Kremlin by calling him from his residence in Florida, advising the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminding him of Washington’s considerable military presence in Europe.
Unfortunately, since last Thursday, the date of the alleged phone call, exactly the opposite has happened: the advance of the Russians in Donbass it has intensified despite huge losses, especially on the Russian side, while in recent nights there have been repeated attacks with missiles and drones as far away as the capital Kiev. Second Zelensky in the Russian region of Kursk, attacked by the Ukrainians at the beginning of August, there are around 50,000 Russian and North Korean soldiers, which would prevent Moscow’s army from advancing elsewhere. On the opposite front, Russian sources declare that Moscow has gathered that number of troops without any need to withdraw its soldiers from Ukraine. Thus, the return of Trump to the White House is today the only concrete hope of bringing Zelensky towards a dialogue with Moscow. And the European Union to abandon ideology to rediscover realism.
