Biden Administration Urged to ‘Move Quickly’ to Send More Aid to Ukraine

Since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, Washington has provided Kiev with military assistance worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as other forms of aid. Moscow has repeatedly stated that such steps will only escalate and prolong the Ukraine conflict.

In a letter published by The Hill, almost 20 of the US’ “fellow experts and national security professionals” did not think twice before urging the Biden administration to deliver more aid, including military assistance, to Kiev.

They insisted that the move is needed to further help Kiev’s authorities contain Russia, which continues its special operation to demilitarize and de­-Nazify Ukraine.

The authors argued that “with the necessary weapons and economic aid, Ukraine can defeat Russia.”

They added that Kiev needs “long-range fires”, allegedly in order to “disrupt the Russian offensive, including Russian resupply, fuel, and ammunition stocks”.

“That means the US should send ATACMs [Army Tactical Missile System] munitions, fired by HIMARS [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System] with the 300km range necessary to strike Russian military targets anywhere in Ukraine,” including Crimea, the letter reads.

According to the authors, beyond all this, “Ukraine needs more short- and medium-range air defense to counter Russian air and missile attacks.”

They recalled that “the [Biden] administration has been reluctant thus far to take such decisive steps for fear of provoking Russia, or as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently said at the Aspen Security Forum, ‘to avoid World War Three’.”

The letter urges the White House “to move more quickly and strategically, in meeting Ukrainian requests for weapons systems”, adding that when Washington “decides to send more advanced weapons [to Kiev], like HIMARS artillery, it should send them in larger quantities that maximize their impact on the battlefield.”

The letter comes about a week after the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that Washington would send an additional $5.5 billion in aid to Kiev amid Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.

USAID added that the figure includes $4.5 billion in budgetary support and $1 billion in military assistance, bringing total US fiscal aid for Ukraine to $8.5 billion delivered since the beginning of the Russian special operation.

Moscow has repeatedly warned the US and its allies against supplying weapons to Ukraine, which the Kremlin insists only motivates Kiev to fight Russia rather than search for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov underscored that Moscow had told Washington that the US providing Ukraine with arms is “not just a dangerous move, but an action that turns the corresponding convoys into legitimate targets” for the Russian armed forces.

“We cautioned about the consequences of the thoughtless transfer to Ukraine of such types of weapons as man-portable air defense systems, anti-tank missile systems, and so on,” Ryabkov added, stressing that these warnings are not perceived by the US as serious signals.

On February 24, Russia launched its special operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine following requests from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics to protect them from Kiev’s atrocities. Moscow stated that only Ukraine’s military infrastructure would be targeted with high-precision weapons.