Joe Biden has the power to get critical aid to Ukraine

Trudy Rubin, Tribune News Service

Donald Trump is helping Vladimir Putin defeat Ukraine. Right now, as you read this. To stop that from happening, President Joe Biden must do an end run around Congress — where Trump and his MAGA clique have cowed House Speaker Mike Johnson into blocking a vote on vital military aid for Ukraine.  Biden still has the power to get some critical aid to Kyiv and prevent a MAGA sellout to Putin that will have ugly, long-term security consequences for America. But the White House can only counter the appeasers if Biden finally summons the political will to help Ukraine win.  Today, Trump and Putin hold the advantage. With US military funding cut off, Ukraine recently lost the town of Avdiivka to Russia because frontline soldiers ran out of artillery shells and bullets.

Our European allies — who already give twice as much aid to Ukraine as the US does — are trying to rev up their military production capacity to compensate. They need to do much better, but they can’t do this fast enough or big enough to make up for the US abdication.  Trump has long made his admiration of Putin clear, and his disdain for Ukraine clearer — he still resents Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for refusing to dig up fake dirt on Biden in 2019.  That makes urgent White House action even more imperative before the November elections. If Trump should win, he insists he will settle the Ukraine war in 24 hours in Moscow, which means pressing Kyiv to surrender to Putin’s demands.

Last month, it seemed that Democrats might be able to pull a parliamentary maneuver to do an end run around Johnson — if they could get only four Republicans to join them. But now, continued MAGA haggling over efforts to prevent a government shutdown means any movement on Ukraine could be delayed for weeks.  Each day that passes without further US aid encourages Putin to expand his ambitions — and leads directly to more Ukrainian deaths.  Unless, that is, the White House takes immediate steps to sustain Ukraine in the near term while pushing harder for congressional funding. This will help enable Kyiv to achieve military progress this year.  Here are four steps Biden must take: Much of US military aid to Ukraine relies on presidential drawdown authority, known as PDA, meaning Biden can immediately send Kyiv weapons from existing stocks. Military aid appropriations then go to replace these weapons, often with newer models. (Contrary to MAGA misinformation, most of the military aid money for Ukraine stays in the US and funds manufacturing jobs for US workers.)

Biden still has PDA access to around $4.2 billion worth of weapons but stopped sending them in late December. The given reason: The halt to Ukraine aid means there is no money for the Pentagon to replace the diminished stocks.  Strategically, this makes no sense. We have an $850 billion-plus annual defense budget. Russian aggression is the most urgent security threat the United States faces. And the Pentagon can’t wait for reimbursement of $4 billion that will help block Putin from scoring more gains in Ukraine?

ATACMS are long-range missiles with a powerful single warhead that can travel 300 kilometers. “ATACMS are not a silver bullet, but would make a tremendous difference,” says retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of the United States Army Europe. “They would allow Ukraine to destroy every Russian logistics base and headquarters inside occupied Ukrainian territory, with precision. Nowhere would be safe for the Russians. It would neutralize their advantage,” in terms of artillery and man power.

Ukraine has already had great success with French and British long-range missiles in destroying Russian ships in the Black Sea, but their numbers are limited, and the US missiles are more powerful. Sending ATACMS would prod Germany to add its own Taurus missiles. It could enable Ukraine to take down the Kerch Bridge and make Russia’s presence in the occupied Crimea Peninsula untenable.  This is the best opportunity to put Putin on the back foot and persuade him that his war can’t be won.

None of the current White House excuses for withholding ATACMS holds water. The Pentagon has hundreds of them in stock and is already replacing them with next-generation Precision Strike Missiles. What is the White House waiting for?  Increase US industrial production of ammunition and weaponry in 2024, as Europe is doing, to help Ukraine and better prepare for future Russian (or Chinese) aggression. In the meantime, scour current US stocks for more immediate ammo aid, including supplies of cluster munitions the Pentagon no longer uses.

Explain directly to the American people why more military aid for Ukraine is crucial for US security.

First off, MAGA calls for Ukraine to negotiate now with Putin are a pipe dream. “Anybody who thinks you can negotiate in good faith with Russia has never read a history book,” Hodges told me. Putin has blatantly broken every past deal Russia made with Ukraine, and has made publicly clear he wants to turn the country into a puppet colony — or destroy it.  Moreover, if the Kremlin crushes Ukraine, Putin has also made clear his desire to undermine or bite off chunks of NATO member states — potentially provoking a wider war.