Where does it all end?
On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced another $725 million in aid to Ukraine, including counter-drone systems, more missiles for the MLRS and HIMARS rocket systems, and anti-personnel land mines.
The U.S. is preparing to send Ukraine an additional $725 million in military assistance, including counter-drone systems and munitions for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which could indicate more of the longer-range missiles are headed to the battlefield.
It was unclear whether the munitions for the HIMARS are the coveted ATACMS — the Army Tactical Missile System — but Ukraine has been pressing for more of the longer-range missiles to strike additional targets inside Russia.
The package, announced Monday by the State Department, also includes more of the anti-personnel land mines that Ukraine is counting on to slow Russian and North Korean ground forces in Russia’s Kursk region.
Secretary Blinken took to X to announce the early Christmas gift to Ukraine.
Today, I am announcing the delivery of $725 million in additional weapons and equipment for Ukraine’s defense. The United States and more than 50 nations stand united with Ukraine.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) December 2, 2024
That's a lot of money to pour into the seeming stalemate in Ukraine, especially when Americans in North Carolina are still sleeping in tents. But there's a new president taking charge in January, and it makes one wonder whether these big aid disbursements are in anticipation of that; President-elect Trump has sworn to bring a negotiated end to the Russia/Ukraine war as swiftly as possible.
There is widespread speculation about what the new Trump administration will mean for Ukraine as the incoming president has promised to end the conflict. In a major shift, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled on Friday that an an offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage of the war.”
NATO has generally declined to admit new member-states who are engaged in ongoing conflicts. That's sensible; admission of Ukraine, for example, into NATO would immediately place all of NATO at war with Russia, by treaty. That's not something either side in this current conflict should care to contemplate.
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Also on Monday, President Biden issued a memorandum authorizing Antony Blinken to disburse up to $63 million in assistance to Ukraine "without regard to any provision of law." It's unclear whether this is in addition to the $725 million already announced. The delegation of authority was emailed in a press release from the White House Press Office, and states in part:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 621 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the authority under section 614(a)(1) of the FAA to determine whether it is important to the security interests of the United States to furnish up to $63 million in assistance to Ukraine without regard to any provision of law within the purview of section 614(a)(1) of the FAA.
When does it all end? How much more money will we pour into this stalemate? How far down will we draw our weapons stocks? Munition supplies are not a cornucopia, and we are expending munitions far faster than we can produce them.
A variation of Stein's Law must apply here: Something that can't continue won't continue. This has to come to an end. We can't afford it any longer.
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