The US war aid might be too little, too late for Ukraine

At the last possible moment, after months of prevarication and with Russian troops on the brink of a major breakthrough in Ukraine, the US Congress last night voted to approve more than $61 billion (£50 billion) worth of military assistance for Kyiv. In a vote that a vocal minority of Republicans had desperately attempted to stop through procedural objections and threats to remove speaker Mike Johnson, 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans finally joined to support Ukraine. A majority of Republicans – 112 Congress members – voted against.

The money comes at a critical moment in Ukraine’s war effort. With US aid stalled in Congress since last October and European allies unable to source or manufacture munitions in time, front line units have reported a desperate shortage of artillery shells, with Russians firing up to six shells for every one the Ukrainians shot back. More importantly, a lack of missile defences has seen Russian ballistic and cruise missiles almost entirely destroy the electricity generation infrastructure of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, and severely damage that of Kyiv.