Dithering Biden is Seriously Harming Ukraine's Victory Prospects
by Con Coughlin • May 18, 2023 at 5:00 am
While U.S. President Joe Biden has constantly pledged his support for Kyiv, his rhetoric has invariably failed to result in providing the Ukrainians with the military support they require. Even when, as happened earlier this year, the White House reluctantly agreed to provide Ukraine with Abrams tanks - a move that was only approved after Washington came under intense pressure from allies such as Poland - the slow delivery timetable has made Ukrainian commanders despair that the equipment will ever actually arrive.
As for the promised Abrams tanks, U.S. officials readily admit that the Abrams are months away from arriving as the Pentagon looks at its stocks to see what it can send.
In a recent interview with Foreign Policy magazine, Sasha Ustinova, a Ukrainian lawmaker, confirmed the U.S. military had delivered far less than what Valeriy Zaluzhny, Ukraine's top general, had asked for from the Pentagon. U.S. military aid is only arriving piecemeal as the Biden administration warns it is nearing the end of its ability to provide weapons that can be pulled off of the Pentagon's shelves to give to the Ukrainians.
Ustinova said that Ukraine hoped to begin the offensive in April, but the lack of weapons has pushed the launch date back indefinitely.
Certainly, any delay in the Ukrainians launching their offensive will only help to convince the Kremlin that, despite all the setbacks it has suffered over the course of the past year, it may still end up winning the war.
The Biden administration's constant dithering over supplying weapons to Ukraine is proving to be a decisive factor in the Ukrainian military's decision to delay its long-awaited spring counter-offensive against Russian forces.
Since the end of last year, when the Ukrainians inflicted a series of humiliating defeats against their Russian foes, Kyiv has been warning that it is in urgent need of fresh supplies of military equipment from its Western allies if it is to continue its campaign to liberate Ukrainian territory from Russian occupation.
In particular, the Ukrainians say they are in urgent need of replacements of tanks and other heavy armour, long-range missiles and aircraft - including F-16 fighters.
While the U.S. and its allies have pledged to provide limited supplies of weapons, however, the slow pace of delivery has prompted the Ukrainians to conclude they have no option but to delay their offensive until they are fully equipped.
