Save democracy or support dictatorship? What's happening in Congress with aid allocation to Ukraine - Уриэль Эпштейн

Uriel Epstein, Executive Director of the non-profit American organization Renew Democracy Initiative, spoke about the delay of financial assistance to Ukraine from the United States

Funding for your country is a central issue in American politics. This has been discussed everywhere, both in the media and behind closed doors in Congress for the past six months.

I'll say it straight away — I believe that in April-May, Ukraine will receive financial support in some form. It could be the passage of a bill in the Senate, allocating $61 billion to you on a grant basis, or the currently discussed option of providing money as a credit.

By the way, there's an important point that's currently underreported in the media.

If the House of Representatives supports the Republican Party's option, which involves providing financial aid as a credit, it will prolong the process by several weeks or months. In such a case, a separate committee will be formed with representatives from both chambers of Congress, who will work together on a compromise funding option. Then, this compromise based on two bills must be voted on again in both the Senate and the House. This will take additional time, so the ideal scenario for Ukraine and the US would be the passage of the bill in the version already approved by the Senate.

Moreover, it's important to understand that providing financial assistance to Ukraine doesn't entail physically handing over money to you; it's about financing the military equipment that will be sent to Kyiv.

Furthermore, the majority of this equipment consists of combat units (rockets for HIMARS, other artillery systems, tanks, combat vehicles, etc.) that are already stored in US Department of Defense warehouses and will be transported to Ukraine. The billions allocated by Congress will go towards producing new military equipment to replace what's sent to the warehouses in the US.

All these bureaucratic processes and political games happening in Congress (and American politics in general) are harmful not only to Kyiv but also to Washington. The reasons for the delay in providing financial support to Ukraine are not only internal political games and elections. Much of it boils down to the weakness of the Joseph Biden Administration, which employs the tactic of "We help Ukraine to resist, but not to win."

Note that over the two years of full-scale war, the White House administration has failed to clearly state what victory for Ukraine in the war would entail. And this argument of "uncertainty" is actively exploited by the Republican Party, as well as by those Americans who have fallen victim to Russian propaganda.

A simple example from personal experience. A few weeks ago, I participated in a discussion on social media X (formerly Twitter). Among the participants were ardent supporters of right-wing ideas, conspiracy theories, fans of Donald Trump, and other promoters of Kremlin ideas in the States (such as millionaire bloggers Jackson Hinkle, Alex Jones, and other speakers less known to Ukrainians). Over 685,000 people tuned in to the broadcast. Large numbers even for the USA.

There were many central topics, but all of them in one way or another revolved around the thesis: "The States should stop supporting Ukraine!". Yes, indeed, in the most democratic country, in the strongest country in the world, they seriously discuss how powerful Russia is as an empire and what an excellent president Putin is.

All this is a consequence of the work of Russian propaganda, which has captured the minds not only of some public figures in the States but also of many ordinary Americans in places like Texas or Arkansas. Such propaganda actively exploits the weaknesses of American and Ukrainian society. It raises topics that, on the one hand, have the right to be discussed but, on the other hand, blatantly justifies the thesis that "Ukraine is no different from Russia, it's weak, and it will lose in the war".

Also, to justify the inaction of the United States, arguments about massive corruption in Ukraine are actively used, or the lack of any chance for Kyiv to win due to Russia constantly mobilizing thousands of people and sending them to the front lines as "cannon fodder."

To counter these discussions and provide aid to Ukraine can only be done by the Biden Administration, which has all the means to strengthen support for your country (politically, financially, diplomatically, militarily), but so far has not utilized all these mechanisms. I want to believe that in such a difficult time, American politicians will find the will to show the strength of democracy, support Ukraine, and deal with Russia a strategic defeat before it's too late.