Hot Q&A | The United States has provided more than 60 billion U.S. dollars in aid to Ukraine. Where will the money go? _News Channel_CCTV Network (cctv.com)

Xinhua News Agency, Washington/Moscow, April 24th Hot Questions and Answers | The United States has provided more than 60 billion U.S. dollars in aid to Ukraine. Where will the money go?

Xinhua News Agency reporter Deng Xianlai Zhao Bing

The U.S. Senate voted on the 23rd to pass a foreign aid appropriation bill totaling US$95 billion. Among them, most of the foreign aid funds will be used to support Ukraine in military and economic aspects, amounting to US$60.84 billion.

Since the bill has been passed by the House of Representatives before, it only needs to be signed by US President Biden on the 24th, and the arms aid to Ukraine may be shipped to Ukraine within a few days. However, after analyzing the content of the provisions, it was found that most of this allocation was directly used by the United States itself. Whose intention was fulfilled when the bill was passed? What impact will it have on the Russia-Ukraine war situation?

　　Who is the money spent on?

The Senate, controlled by Democrats, passed the bill on the 23rd with a vote of 79 in favor and 18 against. The House of Representatives passed the aid bill to Ukraine on the 20th. After the Senate vote, Biden immediately issued a statement stating that he would sign the bill on the 24th.

According to the content of the bill, most of the foreign aid funds this time will be used to support Ukraine in military and economic aspects, amounting to US$60.84 billion. Of this money, US$23.2 billion will be used to fill the gap in the US weapons inventory caused by arms aid to Ukraine; US$11.3 billion will be used to fund the US military’s mission in Europe; US$13.8 billion will be used by the US government to purchase advanced weapons to aid Ukraine from arms dealers Weapons and defensive equipment. In addition, the United States will provide approximately $9 billion in loans to Ukraine for economic assistance.

Congress also authorized the U.S. president to “seizure” certain Russian sovereign assets and transfer them to Ukraine for “war reparations or (postwar) reconstruction.”

It is not difficult to see that this “cleverly named” bill in the United States has put most of the money back into their own pockets. It not only satisfies Biden’s special appropriation request to Congress in October last year, but also means that the six-month-old battle between the two parties in Congress over whether to approve additional aid funds to Ukraine has temporarily come to an end.

　　Can the situation of the Russia-Ukraine war be reversed?

The United States is the largest funder of military aid to Ukraine. Western media calculated that, including the $60.84 billion passed on the 23rd, the United States has invested as much as $170 billion in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The latest aid to Ukraine was finally approved after months of repeated urging from the White House and congressional Democrats. The reason why it has attracted great attention is mainly because the Ukrainian army, which lacks US aid, is in a difficult situation in the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the White House has been facing a situation of running out of funds to aid Ukraine since the end of last year.

The approval of aid funds to Ukraine comes six months after Biden made a relevant request to Congress in October last year. According to media reports, the Ukrainian army has been forced to ration ammunition on demand due to lack of supplies. Ukrainian President Zelensky stated in an NBC program on the 21st of this month that this aid fund will give Ukraine a “chance to win” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that Ukraine cannot afford to wait for “the next six months.” , hoping that the United States will provide “real assistance” to the Ukrainian army as quickly as possible so that they can push the front forward. U.S. government officials disclosed on the 23rd that the Pentagon has provided $1 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine in accordance with the relevant provisions of the bill. Some of the ammunition in the new military aid has been shipped to Europe and is expected to be delivered to the front line within a few days.

Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov said on the 22nd that the new U.S. aid package to Ukraine will not change the battlefield situation, but will lead to an increase in the death toll of Ukrainians. Not only that, the United States claims that most of the funds allocated will remain in the United States in some way. “The United States will receive additional dividends by providing assistance to Ukraine, and the United States will become richer as a result.”

Ilya Kramnik, a researcher at the Institute of World Economics and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also believes that in the new round of U.S. aid, only a small part will be sent directly to Ukraine, which will be very limited in helping Ukraine change the situation. Russian military expert Alexander Mikhailov analyzed that the US $60.84 billion aid plan to Ukraine will be “the last opportunity given to Ukraine by the West.” The new round of aid can bring hope to ordinary Ukrainians that “the situation may change”, but in fact the battlefield situation will still be beneficial to Russia.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on the 23rd that the Russian military will step up its attack on weapons and equipment provided by Western countries to Ukraine. He said that Russia will continue to expand the production of weapons and military equipment to respond to the threats posed by the United States and its allies to Russia. The Russian military “has broken the myth that Western weapons are superior.”

　　Some are happy and some are sad?

Biden’s special funding request to Congress in October last year was blocked due to opposition from some U.S. lawmakers, mainly hardline conservatives in the Republican Party. In February this year, the Senate voted to pass a foreign aid appropriation bill with a similar total amount, but Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson repeatedly delayed the date for a vote in the House of Representatives on the grounds that the bill at that time did not involve Republicans’ immigration policy proposals. . Now that the bill has been passed, it has undoubtedly solved one of Biden’s concerns.

Since the crisis in Ukraine escalated, the United States has continued to add fuel to the fire and increase military aid. Arms dealers have received a large number of orders and made a lot of money. Military-industrial companies are usually the financial backers behind American politicians. The Patriot missile defense system for Ukraine is produced by Raytheon, headquartered in Arizona, while the artillery shells for Ukraine are produced in 12 states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas. Given that Pennsylvania and Arizona are “swing states” that have a decisive impact on the election results in the general election, Biden’s “tendency” on the issue of “benefiting from aid to Ukraine” is self-evident.

However, Johnson, who pushed for funding to support Ukraine in the House of Representatives, did not have an easy life. The approved bill included some national security policy provisions requested by Republican conservatives, but gave up on reforming the current immigration policy. Although it was passed by the House of Representatives, it attracted fierce attacks from a small number of Republican conservatives who opposed increasing aid to Ukraine. The latter believed that Johnson Gave in to the Democrats and threatened to remove him from office as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

However, US media reports believe that removing Johnson will not be easy. On the one hand, Johnson recently went to Mar-a-Lago to visit former President Trump and receive his support. On the other hand, although many Republican conservatives do not agree with Johnson’s leadership style, they oppose his removal for the following reasons: there is no obviously qualified candidate to replace Johnson; many Republican congressmen have recently resigned, and the Republican Party’s seat advantage in the House of Representatives has been Repeatedly weakened, the Republican Party cannot afford any “civil unrest” before voting in the November election.