Pentagon Is Starting To Restrict Flow Of Military Aid To Ukraine As Money Runs Out

No more green for Zelenskyy.

With war funding for both Ukraine and Israel now seemingly snarled up beyond repair in Congress, on Thursday the Pentagon said that funding delays have forced the US to begin restricting the flow of military assistance to Ukraine, and the Pentagon has only $1 billion left to replenish stocks of weapons that were sent to the country, according to a spokeswoman.

“We have had to meter out our support for Ukraine,” Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters. “We’re going to continue to roll out packages but they are getting smaller.”

Singh urged Congress to break a deadlock and approve the Biden administration’s $61.4 billion request for emergency funds for Ukraine’s fight against Russia, part of a masive $106 billion package that would include aid for Israel and the US-Mexico border, but which now has virtually no chance of passing. House Republicans have sought to separate the aid for Ukraine and Israel, an idea both the Senate and the White House oppose.

Singh said the US had burned through about 95% of previous funding for Ukraine, which she said also totaled more than $60 billion; of course, much of that $60 billion was then rerouted back to the Military Industrial Complex and Deep state back in the US, where it served to boost various military companies, and their political supporters and assorted hanger-on lobbies. 

She said the remaining $1 billion is part of a program that allows President Joe Biden to send existing US military hardware to Ukraine and replace it with new orders.

Singh’s warning was only the latest from the administration, which has said repeatedly it’s scrambling to keep military aid flowing for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s forces. Last month, the Pentagon’s comptroller said a government shutdown, which is also looming later this month, would slow the pace of replacing weapons stockpiles sent to Ukraine.

Perhaps realizing that Ukraine’s military forces are about to expire, Telegraph reported that Russia has amassed an estimated 40,000 troops around the key battlefront in Avdiivka as it prepares for a third wave assault on the shattered eastern town, the Ukrainian military has said.

“They are building up reserves. They’ve brought in about 40,000 men here along with ammunition of all calibres,” said Anton Kotsukon, spokesperson for the 110th separate mechanised brigade. “We see no sign of the Russians abandoning plans to encircle Avdiivka.”

Russian forces, he said, had surrounded the town on three sides and were “playing cat and mouse”, sending up “huge numbers” of drones to scout out Ukraine’s defences.

Ukrainian forces regard the town as a gateway for future advances to recapture territory in the east; alternatively the Russian army expects capture of the town to allow to penetrate deep into Ukraine territory.