"Political Implications of US Support for Ukraine

 Ukraine's president is giving his strongest, starkest warning yet about the state of the war against Russia without military aid from the United States. Yet, sure, if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine, we lose the war and we need to find a public format for this. If Ukraine loses the war, other states would be attacked.

 Volodymyr Zelensky also says Russia will soon be, quote, more and more insistent on dragging nuclear weapons into his debate. Meanwhile, the head of the US House Intelligence Committee says Russian propaganda has absolutely spread through Congress, particularly among some of his Republican colleagues.

 A number of hardline House conservatives have refused to back a $95 billion aid package, which includes 60 billion in assistance for Ukraine. 

Joining me now from Vienna is Frances O'Grady, an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. I mean, it was very clear language, wasn't it, from President Zelensky, but it's the sort of argument that's been made in Washington for some time that all of those who feel that Ukraine needs that money from the US. 

Well, I think it's fair to assume that we are currently in a transitional phase when it comes to the war in Ukraine. Russia is conducting probing attacks along the front line. It is trying to advance where it can and it is preparing what seems to be a future offensive down the road. And this is of course very, very worrying because Ukraine currently is also already losing territory men. And the biggest handicap that Ukraine currently has in its war against Russia is manpower.

 It is of course, related to ammunition, but it's not exclusively the lack of Western support. I do want to emphasize this here using the war. 

How do you read that? 

Does that mean Russia keeps the lines that it's got or that Russia continues to take the rest of Ukraine? Well, I think it would be premature to say that Ukraine is losing this war. I think overall, yes, it is true  are ongoing in 2024 for Ukraine.

 But I also think at the same time, this war is far from over or, youthat there are certain negative trends that know, far from lost for Ukraine. The major issue here is manpower, ammunition and Ukraine needs both in order to at least hold on to what they are currently, you know, holding on along the front line. And so I think what we need you should perhaps expect down the road is some tactical withdrawals, some Russian advances, along parts of the front line, perhaps even down the road, a partial collapse of certain sectors of the Ukrainian front line. But this doesn't mean that Ukraine is going to lose this war. It just means that we probably need to be ready for some bad news down the road. But it's not indicative of Ukraine losing the struggle in the long term. 

There's obviously been stepping up as much as it can to fill the gap with potentially the gap with us going into US money going into Ukraine, also coming out with new plans for how that war could be supported from Europe, taking some pressure off the United States. Is there any way that Europe could replace what America is giving right now? Well, not in the short term. In the long term, I think the situation might look different. But this year, Ukraine really needs U.S. support there certain weapons systems, certain logistical support, which the European countries simply cannot provide to Ukraine.

 So U.S. aid remains crucial, particularly when it comes to ammunition, when it comes to other weapons systems such as infantry fighting vehicles, long-range air defense systems in particular, because if you've been following the news the last couple of weeks, have seen an uptick in so-called quiet bomb attacks, which are really terrible and really causing a lot of havoc along the front line. And Ukraine desperately needs long-range air defense systems. 

And the United States is the only country that can really supply those, for example. Obviously, Trump comes into this argument because many of his supporters are very much against funding Ukraine