The Senate is expected to pass legislation Tuesday granting Ukraine a new lifeline

 

Half a year of political squabbling and deadlock ended this weekend after a bipartisan vote in the House allowed for the passage of a bill greenlighting some $61 billion in military aid. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) opted to antagonize the Trumpist wing of his caucus by pushing through the funding requests, which are expected to be signed off by President Biden. That was no easy feat for Johnson, a relatively inexperienced figure catapulted to prominence amid the dysfunction and internecine battles of his own party. After months of stalling on Ukraine’s desperate aid requests, he appeared compelled by high-level intelligence briefings about the state of Kyiv’s plight and the entreaties of a handful of more establishment-leaning, senior Republican lawmakers as well as some leading Democrats. “Look, history judges us for what we do,” Johnson said at a news conference last week in response to a question from my colleagues about his decision to invite the ire of the Republican far right. “This is a critical time right now, critical time on the world stage. I could make a selfish decision and do something that’s different, but I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing.” Far-right Republican lawmakers have openly mulled launching a bid to oust Johnson from his role as speaker. In Europe, though, the movement on Ukraine was cheered by Kyiv’s boosters. “Better late than too late,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on social media. “And I hope it is not too late for Ukraine.” Ukraine’s struggles after more than two years resisting Russia’s invasion have been well-documented. The country’s weary armed forces are short on personnel and even shorter on ammunition, and officials in Washington and Kyiv warn that Ukrainian troops may soon be outgunned by the Russian invaders by roughly 10-to-1 in artillery rounds. Russian long-range missiles and drones land indiscriminately on Ukrainian cities, many of which lack the sufficient defenses to ward against such attacks. And far from retaking lost territory, Ukrainian forces are locked in a desperate battle to hold their ground, with Russia concentrating its latest offensive on the eastern town of Chasiv Yar in the partially occupied Donetsk region. In an interview with NBC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that his country had lost precious time while waiting for Congress to come to their rescue. “We’ve had the process stalled for half a year and we had losses in several directions, in the east. It was very difficult and we did lose the initiative there,” Zelensky said. “Now we have all the chance to stabilize the situation and to take the initiative, and that’s why we need to actually have the weapon systems.”  -Washington Post