Ukraine War Aid: Where Have U.S. Funds Gone and Why Has Support Stalled? | WSJ

The political stalemate in Washington is now impairing Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia’s invasion. House Republicans say they won’t support tens of billions of dollars in additional aid to the war-torn country without a deal on border security on the southern U.S. border. With deliveries of military aid to Ukrainian troops continuing to decline, Kyiv could be hard pressed to replace its losses and maintain its front lines.

WSJ explores where U.S. aid has gone so far and what could happen if additional funding remains stalled.

0:00 Political stalemate causing funding issues
0:41 U.S. funding so far
3:32 Waning support for Ukraine
4:22 Proposed aid holdup
4:52 What happens if Ukraine doesn’t get more aid?

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– [Narrator] Ukraine is having a problem with money. And additional funding from the US has stalled, which means the war-torn country could run into trouble within months. – Ukraine needs broad spectrum of aid, military support continuously. – There’s been a wide range of military assistance that’s been provided to Ukraine, things ranging from vehicles, missiles, air defense systems.

– [Narrator] Here’s where USA to Ukraine has gone so far and what could happen if additional funding remains stalled. Since 2022, Congress has directed more than $113 billion in aid in four packages to Ukraine. – Aid to Ukraine is a misnomer. The phrase implies that all of the money

Is going to Ukraine, but in fact about 60% of it is spent in the United States. – [Narrator] More than half of the appropriated aid is allocated for US military operations and weapons contracts, including US military equipment to replace what was sent to Ukraine, weapons contracts and services,

And additional US forces in Europe to support NATO. The non-defense spending includes humanitarian assistance to help the more than 6 million Ukrainian refugees and relieve global economic disruption, economic support for Ukraine’s government to make up for lost revenue from the war, and war-related funding for other US government agencies.

– The United States has provided $60 billion of military aid when you consider all the different elements of it. – [Narrator] On that long list of equipment, there have been a range of weapons, including Javelin anti-armor systems, which are smaller arms designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. – Javelin is a top of the line anti-tank weapon and costs about $200,000 when you include the launcher unit. – [Narrator] Long range rocket launchers, also known as HIMARS. – [Mark] They cost about $7 million per launcher. – [Narrator] The M1 Abrams tank. – [Mark] The M1 tanks cost

About $14 million apiece to replace. – And the Patriot air defense system. – United States provided one battery, which costs about 400 million. So because of the cost, they can only be used against high-end threats. It makes no point to shoot a $4 million missile at a $20,000 drone.

– When we do oversight, we try to identify the areas where we can have the maximum impact. One very big line of effort, if you will, looks at the equipment, really starting throughout its lifecycle, from when it’s first sourced, to make sure there’s accountability once it goes into the country.

– [Narrator] According to a Defense Department report released in January, as of June, 2023, a billion dollars worth of sensitive equipment shipped to Ukraine remained delinquent, or not properly tracked in accordance with the strict requirements for tracking certain military items. – Our report shows they’re making progress,

But they’re not meeting any of ’em fully. And a higher level of delinquency correlates with a higher level of risk that something bad could happen, right? And so, that’s why these requirements exist. – [Narrator] The big concern is that US weapons could end up in the wrong hands.

– Based on our completed work, we have not substantiated any instances of diversion of the equipment that’s been provided to Ukraine. – [Narrator] From the onset of the war, Congress has embraced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s resiliency against Russian President Vladimir Putin. – Ukraine didn’t fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking. – [Narrator] But by 2023, Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russian forces failed to make significant progress. This coincided with a political shift in the US House of Representatives from Democratic to Republican control. – You have Republicans in charge of the House. And of course, Republicans, that segment of the country

Is the exact area where support for Ukraine is starting to erode. – [Narrator] As aid in Ukraine looks to run out, President Zelenskyy has met with lawmakers in Washington to lobby for more funding. Senate Democrats have proposed a nearly $111 billion security assistance bill.

– The bulk of that, more than $60 billion is for Ukraine. There’s money for Israel. There is some money for Taiwan to bolster it against China. – [Narrator] House Republicans have refused to pass the additional spending bill until they reach an agreement to increase security at the US-Mexico border.

– If President Biden wants a supplemental spending bill focused on national security, it better begin by defending America’s national security. – [Narrator] With additional funding stalled in Congress, Ukrainian troops on the frontlines are adapting to smaller deliveries of military aid. – Today, deliveries run about a third what they were

At the height of the counter-offensive back last summer. By the end of the spring, they’ll be under 10%. They never go to zero, but by the time you get to the end of the summer, Ukraine will be hard pressed to replace its losses and to maintain its frontlines.

– [Narrator] Since 2022, the US and 27-member EU together have been responsible for about 70% of the financial aid Ukraine has received, but additional EU funding has hit its own roadblocks. The members failed to pass a $54 billion funding package in December. US leaders worry that a loss of Ukraine to Russia

Could be a strategic defeat that poses greater security and military threats, such as an attack on one of its global allies. – If Putin attacks a NATO ally, if he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO ally, and we’ve committed as a NATO member that we defend every inch of NATO territory,

Then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today, American troops fighting Russian troops. – The big thing Republicans and Democrats have been happy about is that the US commitment is financial only. The risk is that you get a commitment of manpower. You have American troops at risk.

And that is what nobody wants to see.