The United States’s House of Congress has been given a dire warning about Ukraine’s fate in the weeks ahead if it fails to send more military aid.
Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of US European Command, said on Wednesday that Ukraine will be outgunned 10 to one by Russia within a matter of weeks if Congress does not find a way to approve sending more ammunition and weapons to Kyiv soon.
His testimony – and that of Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs – comes as Congress enters pivotal weeks for voting for aid for Ukraine, but there’s no guarantee funding will be improved in time.
Ukraine has been rationing its munitions as Congress has delayed passing its $60 billion supplemental bill.
Cavoli said: “They are now being outshot by the Russian side five to one. So the Russians fire five times as many artillery shells at the Ukrainians than the Ukrainians are able to fire back.
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Cavoli told the lawmakers that in this conflict, the US flow of 155mm artillery shells has been a lifeline. “The biggest killer on the battlefield is artillery. In most conflicts, but in this one definitely. And should Ukraine run out, they would run out because we stopped supplying – because we supply the lion’s share of that.
Russia’s own production of missiles has ramped up and can launch large-scale attacks every few days. If Ukraine’s air defense stocks run out, “those attacks would absolutely cripple the economy, and the civil society as well as the military of Ukraine if they were not defended against without a U.S. provision of interceptors,” Cavoli said.
He added: “Their ability to defend their terrain that they currently hold and their airspace would fade rapidly, will fade rapidly without the supplemental.”
US Army leaders offered similar dire warnings to the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee later in the day, saying that the lack of the supplemental is a critical problem for both Ukraine and the US Army.
“The side that can’t shoot back, loses, and at this point Ukraine is really starting to be pressed to be able to shoot back. So I am very concerned,” said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth. “We saw Ukraine lose some territory a couple of months ago. And I think there is a real danger …that the Russians could have a breakthrough somewhere in the line.”
Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army added that the funding is needed to help send Ukraine long-range weapons and air defense systems so they can defend their critical infrastructure and their troops on the front lines.
At the same time, Wormuth and Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army, said that unless Congress approves the supplemental soon, the Army won’t have enough money to bring home the troops currently serving in Europe, or funding to train units in the U.S.
