Biden: Delaying Aid to Ukraine is almost ‘Criminal
Neglect’; Meanwhile, russians still Rain Death upon Ukrainians
While Ukrainians are waiting and praying for American
lawmakers to approve releasing as soon as possible urgent funding for Ukraine,
the russians haven’t been wasting their time by humanely suspending raining
death and destruction upon Ukrainians.
They have been continuing missile and drone attacks against
Ukraine that have killed and wounded innocent, unarmed Ukrainian civilians, and
destroyed their homes and cities.
The latest bloody target was the second largest Ukrainian
city, Kharkiv in the east,
russian forces launched 45 drones over Ukraine earlier
today in a five-and-a-half-hour barrage that killed at least seven people,
officials said.
A russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest
city, killed seven people overnight, including three children, Kharkiv region
governor Oleh Syniehubov reported Saturday. Three others sustained injuries.
In a statement, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot
down 40 of the Iran-made Shahed drones over nine different regions, including
on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Kyiv.
The five-and-a-half-hour attack targeted agricultural
facilities and coastal infrastructure, officials for Ukraine’s southern defense
forces wrote on Telegram. They said that a strike in the Mykolaiv region had
injured one person, sparked a fire and damaged nearby residential buildings.
Another person was injured in the Dnipropetrovsk region when
a blaze broke out due to falling debris from a destroyed drone, said the head
of the region’s military administration, Serhiy Lysak.
He said at least 10 drones were launched at Kharkiv, eight
of which were shot down. Civilian infrastructure in the Nemyshlyan district of
the city was hit, causing a massive fire that burned 15 private houses, he
said.
Syniehubov said that an oil depot was hit, causing the fuel
to leak out, which prompted the fire. In a Facebook post, Serhii Bolvinov, head
of the investigative department of the National Police, cited a local resident
as seeing “a true hell: first the fuel flowed, then everything caught fire.”
Bolvinov said a family of five — including children aged 7,
4 and nine months — burned alive, trapped in their house as the fire raged. Two
other adults were killed by the blaze in another house that burned down, he
said.
This is not a rare occurrence but rather a regular tactic by
russians to demoralize the people and throw fear into the hearts of children,
compelling them to seek solace in their parents by asking “are we going to
die.” Try consoling your child every time the air raid siren wails.
Sadly, the death of scores of Ukrainian civilians has not
coerced lawmakers in Washington, DC, to release some $60 billion of
humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, which would assist Kyiv in subduing
russian slaughter of civilians and expelling them from Ukraine. In the past few
days, the mood swung in both directions regarding allowing American support. It
has moved toward the positive side though the few stubborn holdouts are keeping
the money tied up in America while innocent Ukrainian civilians die.
As an increasing number of Republicans oppose US aid to
Ukraine, the Senate’s leaders are arguing in strong terms that the money is
crucial to pushing back against Russia and maintaining America’s global
standing.
In the Capitol for a rare weekend session, the Senate voted again to move
forward with the assistance as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-NY) and
Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, both longtime supporters of
Ukraine, issued stark warnings about the consequences of abandoning longtime US
allies in Europe.
“Today it’s no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the world are on the United
States Senate,” McConnell said. “Our allies and partners are hoping that the
indispensable nation, the leader of the free world, has the resolve to
continue.”
Schumer said that if America doesn’t assist Ukraine, “Putin is all too likely
to succeed.”
“The only right answer to this threat is for the Senate to face it down
unflinchingly by passing this bill as soon as we can,” Schumer said before the
vote.
President Biden said Friday that a Republican holdup on
sending new US aid to Ukraine for its existential war with russia was “close to
criminal neglect” as he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about
US and Europe’s efforts to maintain support for Kyiv.
“Without the support of United States, and without the
support of the European states, Ukraine will have not a chance to defend its
own country,” Scholz said.
Meanwhile, Biden sought to use his meeting with the German
leader to once again pressure Republicans to stand by its European allies. “The
failure of the United States Congress, if it occurs, not to support Ukraine, is
close to criminal neglect,” Biden said. “It is outrageous.”
Before the White House meeting, Scholz said that backing
away from support for Kyiv would have consequences beyond Ukraine and could
prove more costly to Western governments in the long run.
“Others around the world are watching closely to see whether
these divisions can be exploited and whether disinformation campaigns can take
hold,” Scholz wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Thursday. “We
must prove them wrong by convincing citizens on both sides of the Atlantic that
a Russian victory would make the world a far more dangerous place. It would
also strain our budgets while putting the freedom and prosperity of each of us
in peril.”
Indeed, this prediction has been made not only by Ukrainian
officials but also leaders of the former captive nations of russian aggression
as well as the European Union and NATO.
Republicans this week blocked a $118 bipartisan border
package that had been tied to Ukraine funding and aid for Israel. The
Senate on Thursday voted to begin work on a narrower package that would include
roughly $60 billion for Ukraine and $35 billion for Israel, but doubts
remained about whether it could win enough support from Republicans for
passage.
The impasse has meant that the US has halted arms shipments
to Kyiv at a crucial point in the nearly two-year-old conflict, leaving
Ukrainian soldiers without ample ammunition and missiles as putin has mounted
relentless attacks. The US has provided Ukraine with some $111
billion since putin launched his grinding invasion.
The Trump and GOP led opposition to helping Ukraine is
raising fear levels in European leaders who are convinced that the ultimate
battle between good and evil, America and russia is in the near future.
Germany, among others, must increase its military
preparedness to be ready for a potential war with russia within the next five
years, said the country’s highest ranking soldier, Gen. Carsten Breuer, in an
interview with Welt Am Sonntag released on February 10.
NATO militaries have strengthened their capacity and
preparedness since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of
Ukraine, which has lasted more than 700 days. While the prospect of the war escalating to an all-out clash
between the alliance and russia has so far been averted, there are concerns
that the West has not truly accepted that it may still be a possibility.
Several NATO commanders and other alliance leaders have
warned in increasingly stark terms in recent months about the dangers of such a
war and what impact it could have across Europe.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in
January that a war with Russia could occur within the next five to eight years,
and a top German NATO general warned that russian missiles could
likely target Germany in the event of such a conflict.
Breuer, whose official title is inspector general of the
German Armed Forces, told Welt Am Sonntag that russia has both the
military potential and intention to extend its aggression beyond Ukraine.
In terms of Germany’s support for Ukraine, which has
significantly increased after a slow start in 2022, Breuer said that “I really
can’t see that there is a conscious limitation of help anywhere.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also told German
newspaper Welt Am Sonntag in an interview published on February 10 that while the
West does not seek war with russia, we should still “prepare ourselves for a
confrontation that could last decades.” Ironically, russia has the appetite for
waging a war that could last for decades and centuries as is witnessed by its
aggression against Ukraine.
Officials from NATO countries have voiced growing concerns
about the alliance’s lack of preparedness for a conflict with russia since the
beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Lt.-Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of the NATO Military
Committee, said in January that civilians in NATO countries should be
ready for the prospect of an all-out war with russia within the next 20 years.
The possibility of direct conflict with russia is likely
dependent on the outcome of the war in Ukraine, Western officials have said.
“If putin wins in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that russian
aggression will not spread to other countries,” Stoltenberg warned. His
prognostication supports what others have said about russian tanks rolling
across eastern and western Europe.
NATO must improve its military capabilities, Stoltenberg
said, adding that “deterrence only works if it is credible.”
In the case of russia, deterrence only keeps moscow at bay.
Its disgraceful warlike mentality must be destroyed, and the country and nation
must be defeated. The immorality of continuous russian wars and aggression
against Ukraine and its people must end with victory for Ukrainians and the free
world.
Ukrainian American voters, who remember different,
pro-Ukrainian Republican lawmakers, will certainly remember this historic snub
for a long time. Who lost Ukraine?
