On March 3, US President Donald Trump “paused” all military aid to Ukraine. This move comes in the wake of that televised bust-up at the White House on February 28 between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Trump and Vice President JD Vance. While some European nations have offered to continue supporting Ukraine, the reality is that without the US’s military support and precise intelligence inputs, Ukraine will find it very difficult to continue waging coherent military operations against Russia. On February 14, Zelenskyy, speaking to NBC News, had emphasised that it would be “very, very, very difficult” for Ukraine to survive without US military support, both now and in the future.

The US has been the lead provider of military and security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion (February 2022), which has been in four main forms: Supply of weaponry and ammunition; training of Ukrainian military personnel including on the weaponry provided by the US and other Western allies; intelligence support for targeting Russian assets at all levels; and developing Ukraine’s indigenous military-industrial capacities under Ukrainian programmes like Brave1.

Between FY2022 and FY2024, the US provisioned $174.2 billion in emergency supplemental funding for Ukraine, with $110.7 billion being provided for the Department of Defence (DoD). While small contingents of the US National Guard and US military have trained Ukraine’s armed forces, many US special forces veterans have been participating “unofficially” on the battlefield. But what has added enormous effectiveness to Ukrainian military operations against Russia has been the immense........

© Indian Express