US Unable to Fight 'One-Front War' After Ukraine Supplies Deplete Weapon Stocks

While US lawmakers are yet to agree on the next funding package for Ukraine, the powers that be in the United States now mull how much more money their country can provide to the regime.

US President Joe Biden insisted that the United States is going to "continue to supply Ukraine with critical weapons and equipment as long as we can" on December 12.

The Pentagon recently claimed it can send around $4.6 billion worth of military hardware to Ukraine under the auspices of the Presidential Drawdown Authority that allows the government to send weapons from its own stocks to foreign countries when necessary.

However, the US Department of Defense has only $1 billion to replace the old gear, Bloomberg has noted, adding that sending weapons to Ukraine without guaranteeing their replacement is a “risky strategy.”

The Pentagon thus has to weigh its options carefully, being perfectly aware of the fact that “the Congress itself is not happy with sending more funds at this moment for a variety of reasons,” said Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the US Secretary of Defense.

According to him, the DoD needs to keep in mind the need to replenish the United States’ own stockpiles as weapons get sent to Ukraine, “and 1 billion is not going to cut it.”

“Even though that money was apparently authorized, doesn't necessarily mean they've got it. There's one thing to have an authorization under our system, but another thing to actually have the appropriation,” Maloof explained to Sputnik. “So those funds in fact, without verification, they may not even be there.”

Basically, under the current system, the Pentagon would be authorized to spend up to $4.5 billion while essentially being able to appropriate one billion, he added, noting that the latter amount may already be dwindling as Biden has already approved some $200 million for Ukraine.

“Now it's only in the millions. So things are beginning to pick up. There is the recognition that the funding is not there,” Maloof remarked.

With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flaring up in October, which prompted the US to leap to Israel’s aid, the United States now finds itself stretched thin, he noted, adding that it is a good thing the US is “not engaged directly” with its own troops as it is unclear if Washington would be able to “finance that.”

“So in reality, the United States really cannot finance a two front war. They wouldn't be able to fight a one front war right now, given how depleted our resources and reserves are. And it's just the reality of things. And Biden and his crew just do not want to wake up and smell the coffee, as it were, and recognize reality,” Maloof said.

He also observed that some 55 percent of Americans “no longer want funding for Ukraine,” according to recent polls, which is likely the product of people in the United States realizing that “Bidenomics isn't working for them.”

“And why fund other wars and other people when we can't even take care of our own? And I think that's what the bottom line is here,” Maloof surmised.