Is the US tiring of war in Ukraine?
The tide of the war in Ukraine may turn “decisively” in Russia’s favour if Vladimir Putin continues to display more staying power than the West, say James Marson and Daniel Michaels in The Wall Street Journal. Without fresh manpower and ammunition, Ukraine could face “further losses of its land and best troops, dimming any hope of taking back the nearly 20% of its territory already occupied”.
President Volodymyr Zelensky is pinning his hopes on a $60bn US aid package, which remains uncertain. On Monday, Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, announced a convoluted plan that unlinks the bill for
Ukrainian aid – which many Republicans oppose – from the one for Israel, which is more popular, but it could take several weeks before the bill goes to a vote and it would still need to “go back to the Senate for (re) approval”, says Chris Michael in The Guardian. Meanwhile, Europe is struggling to provide timely help, and similarly there is growing tension about support for Israel versus Ukraine. The Czech Republic is leading a “multinational initiative” to buy some 500,000 artillery shells after the EU admitted that it was only likely to meet 52% of its target to deliver a million shells by March. Earlier this month, Nato’s secretary-general
Jens Stoltenberg proposed an “unprecedented fiveyear, €100bn package of military aid”, but it would “upend Nato’s current role” and require consensus from Nato’s 32 members.
This alarming state of affairs is the result of governments in Britain and Europe that have treated defence as an “optional extra”, says Max Hastings in The Times. Ukraine is “essentially our proxy in facing down Russian aggression” and it is increasingly clear that the US has “tired, probably forever, of leading and largely funding the defence of Europe”. Beyond helping Ukraine win this war, ”we must create a credible military deterrent”.