CIA Director William Burns last week warned that Ukraine could face significant setbacks in the war with Russia without additional military aid from the United States, CBS News reported.
During a Q&A session last Thursday at the Bush Center Forum on Leadership, Burns said Ukraine was “at a tough moment” but its forces could “hold their own on the battlefield” this year if Kyiv received supplemental aid from the United States.
Burns suggested that with additional US military aid, Ukrainian forces could “continue to do damage” by striking deeper into Crimea and against the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
However, he warned that Ukraine’s fate was “a lot more dire” if the US did not provide additional assistance, adding that it would lead to “a very real risk” that Ukraine “could lose on the battlefield” by the end of the year.
The Republican-controlled House finally approved a supplemental foreign aid package on Saturday that included three separate bills totaling $95 billion.
The bill to provide Ukraine with $60.8 billion in additional military aid passed with bipartisan support in a 311-112 vote. The bill to provide $26.4 billion to Israel also passed in a bipartisan 366-58 vote, while the bill to provide $8.1 billion to the Indo-Pacific region was overwhelmingly approved 385-34.
To get Democrats to support the Israel aid bill, the House had to add humanitarian funding for civilians in Gaza.
In an April 20 statement, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would vote on the package as early as Tuesday, April 23.
The White House has already said the president will sign the package.
The day before the House vote, another Republican lawmaker announced his support for Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to dismiss the chair to oust Speaker Johnson.
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar announced that he would join Greene and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in seeking to oust the speaker after more Democrats than Republicans voted to advance the aid package last Friday.
In an interview on Monday, Donald Trump defended Speaker Johnson, explaining that the Republicans only hold a “majority of one” and the speaker couldn’t “go and do whatever he wants.”
