“We are out of money,” said a US military official stationed in Europe. The administration ultimately requested $60 billion, but Congress could not reach a deal before the end of last year - doing anything more in a fraught election year may now be little more than a pipedream, the aide said. Michael McCaul, were among those pushing last fall for Congress to approve enough funding to hold Ukrainian military forces over through the 2024 election. “Not only is it important that the monies get appropriated, but that they get disbursed before the election as any FY24 funds still waiting to be spent can get blocked by Trump.”Ī congressional aide familiar with the discussions said that the more hawkish lawmakers, like Republican Sen. “Aside from there being a desperate need, getting as much aid in before January 2025 is on the minds of a lot of folks I’ve spoken to,” said one US official.

Privately, some US and Western officials say there could be as many as five more years of fighting.Īdministration officials and lawmakers, including some hawkish Republicans, have for that reason been eager to approve and channel the funding to Ukraine before the clock potentially runs out at the end of 2024. No matter what happens in American politics this year, US and Western intelligence officials believe that Russia’s war in Ukraine is likely to go on for much longer.Īssessments vary, but virtually all of them assume that there will be at least two more years of fighting, according to multiple sources familiar with the intelligence - long enough to outlast Biden’s first term. “He’s already made it clear what he would do - the war would be over on his first day, which means Putin gets to keep the borders he has, if not more.” Mike Quigley said on CNN Max on Wednesday. “The number one reason Republicans will not come out in favor of a supplemental for Ukraine is they don’t want to offend candidate Trump and his supporters,” Democratic Rep. Meanwhile, inside the White House, NATO headquarters and in Kyiv, there is a keen awareness that if Donald Trump is reelected in November, he will likely slash support for Kyiv. Mike Turner, Mike Rogers and Mike McCaul on January 17, outside the White House. House Speaker Mike Johnson makes a statement alongside Reps. “The question is whether or not a small minority are going to hold it up, which would be a disaster,” Biden said.

What is the endgame?’” Johnson said Wednesday night in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.Īt the White House on Thursday, Biden told reporters he thought the meeting went well and that he believed “the vast majority of members of Congress support aid” to Ukraine. “We cannot spend billions of dollars without a clear strategy articulated and I told the president in the meeting today again, as I’ve been saying repeatedly, ‘Sir, you have to articulate what the strategy is. At one point, the President turned to his national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to lay out specific capabilities that Ukraine would run out of in the coming months, according to a White House official familiar with the meeting, who declined to get into more detail. Another official told CNN that they specifically pointed to air defense systems and artillery ammunition as examples of key capabilities that could be depleted without US support.īiden also warned that US personnel were on the line, saying that if the Ukraine-Russia war spills over into NATO territory, the US would have to get directly involved in the conflict.īut House Speaker Mike Johnson, who along with other House Republicans has tied additional Ukraine funding to a broader immigration deal, said afterward that continuing to fund Ukraine risked turning it into a quagmire for the US akin to its two-decade war in Afghanistan. And underscoring the current gridlock, Pentagon officials have not held a single meeting since last month to decide on what to send Ukraine from the Defense Department’s weapons stockpiles - because there is no money left to fund the aid packages.īiden met with House and Senate lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday to outline what is at stake for Ukraine. Lawmakers have conveyed as much directly to the White House, a US official told CNN. As President Joe Biden continues to urge top lawmakers to approve his $60 billion aid request for Ukraine, a grim realization has settled in for the administration that this is likely the last chance for any new US military funding to flow to the war-torn country before the 2024 presidential election.

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