US announces final aid package for Ukraine in 2023

Mr. Blinken said the aid was part of "previously directed reductions for Ukraine," emphasizing that the aid package included anti-aircraft ammunition, missiles, 155mm and 105mm artillery shells, and "more than 15 million rounds of ammunition."

Earlier this month, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warned that the US “will no longer have additional authority” unless Congress immediately authorizes new aid to Ukraine.

“It is imperative that Congress act quickly, as soon as possible, to advance our national security interests by helping Ukraine defend itself and secure its future,” Secretary Blinken stressed. A similar statement came from the Pentagon, calling on Congress to act “as soon as possible… to ensure that our support for Ukraine can continue.”

US lawmakers left Washington for Christmas recess after failing to approve $60 billion in aid to Ukraine that President Joe Biden requested in October. House Republicans blocked the bill, demanding tighter immigration controls at the US-Mexico border.

The Ukrainian military is preparing for 2024 as its much-anticipated summer offensive has failed to make any significant gains this year. Kiev’s forces have suffered heavy casualties and lost valuable Western-supplied tanks and other equipment while trying to breach dense minefields and fortified Russian positions. Meanwhile, Russian forces appear to have gone on the offensive, most recently pushing Ukrainian troops back from Maryinka, a key stronghold west of Donetsk.

Faced with this situation, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said that President Zelensky needs to come up with a different plan to win the current war because the current plan is not working. Tymoshenko became Ukraine’s first female Prime Minister in 2005, after the “Orange Revolution”, and led the government again from 2007 to 2010. She currently heads the opposition Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) party, which has 24 seats in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament).

“Yes, today we are all for victory, for Ukraine, for territorial integrity,” she said on social media. “But Ukraine will find it very difficult to wage protracted wars. So I ask the President: Give the country a Plan B so we can win.” Tymoshenko did not say what her vision of an alternative policy would be. She described the current situation as “difficult (and) quite tragic” due to reduced military aid from the West.

The former prime minister also addressed Zelensky’s proposal to call up 500,000 more troops, which would extend the mobilization to the very young, the elderly and even the disabled. “This move does not solve the problem, it is ineffective and unconstitutional,” Tymoshenko said, noting that her party would vote against it. Instead of expanding the draft to 25-year-olds, she said, Kiev should send police to the front. “It is a wrong concept to keep hundreds of thousands of people in the security forces who know how to fight but do not fight,” she argued.