Russia will be emboldened if Congress fails to pass Ukraine funding, Pentagon warns

Failure by lawmakers in Washington to pass President Biden’s $95 billion foreign aid package, including major new funding for Ukraine, would leave Kyiv hard-pressed to keep up its defense against a Russian invasion force, the Pentagon warned Friday.

“If Ukraine fails because we failed to provide them with security assistance, the costs are high for Europe, for the United States, and for the world — higher than the cost of security assistance today,” said a senior Defense Department official, briefing reporters on background at the Pentagon.

Ukraine’s ambitious months-long campaign to recapture lost territory in the east and south has stalled on the front line with neither side able to make much headway.  If Congress approves the supplemental funding package, the Defense Department will be able to provide essential support for Ukraine’s military. 

“They will be able to inflict significant costs on Russian forces in the immediate term. This is about reinforcing Ukraine,” the defense official said. “It’s also ensuring that our own forces have what they need.”

But the U.S. military will face “resource gaps” unless Congress signs off on the supplemental package, which has passed the Senate but faces an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled House. The package also includes money for Israel and for U.S. military operations in the Indo-Pacific theater.

“We will lack the resources to replenish our own military capabilities, promote U.S. readiness, and support our deterrence of adversary aggression,” the official said.

The Kremlin has spent about $211 billion on military operations in Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of the country’s smaller neighbor in February 2022. Once a major weapons exporter to a number of third-world countries and Marxist revolutionaries, Russia has lost more than $10 billion in arms sales either canceled or postponed.

The U.S. also estimates that the war has cost Russia about $1.3 trillion in lost economic growth through 2026. Despite having scuttled its modest naval fleet at the start of the war to prevent its crafts from being captured, Ukraine has managed to sink 20 medium to large Russian warships in the Black Sea, the senior Defense Department official said Friday.

“We estimate at least 315,000 Russian forces have been either killed or wounded in the fight,” the defense official told Pentagon reporters.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held meetings with U.S. allies this week discussing future support for Kyiv.