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- Army officials told CNN that the military is at risk of running out of funding.
- Funds from the European and African Command budget are used to support Ukraine.
- The lack of additional funding could completely deplete the budget, CNN reported.
U.S. Army officials have warned that if the government fails to provide more funding to Ukraine, it could lack the funding needed for critical international global operations.
An anonymous official told CNN that the Army has spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Ukraine, including money that was originally intended to be used as part of the European Africa Command budget. Ta.
The Senate last week passed a $95 billion emergency defense aid bill that could help Ukraine, Israel and Tawain. If the bill passes, an estimated $60 billion of that money would be set aside for Ukraine. However, opposition from Republicans is expected. Business Insider previously reported.
CNN reports that Army Europe and Africa Command has about $3 billion available for operations in 2024, but it’s not enough.
That’s $2 billion less than the overall estimated budget needed to fund not only Ukraine but also other operations within the U.S. military command in Europe and Africa, a second senior Army official told CNN. told.
They said a lack of government funding was a problem, and if not secured soon, the Army would run out of money by the end of May, leaving Europe and Africa without funding for training and maintenance.
“If we don’t get the basic budget, if we don’t get the additional budget for Ukraine.” [funding package]If the government shuts down and we don’t get anything else and nothing changes from today…we’re going to run out. [operations and maintenance] We are planning to raise funds in May,” an official told the publication.
A US Army spokesperson told BI: “It is important that we receive the funds now.”
“The impact will impact our ability to train with allies and strengthen NATO’s eastern flank,” the spokesperson said.
“That doesn’t mean individual countries or NATO as a whole can’t do anything, but from the perspective of the United States and the U.S. military, it’s over.”
“I just saw the vice president commit to continued U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO,” the spokesperson said, referring to Kamala Harris’ attendance at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. Ta.
“But without money, you don’t have the ability to back up your words. Words are great, but actions speak louder than words,” they added.
Army officials told CNN that unless funding is allocated from other areas of the overall budget, it “will cease to exist.”
Secretary of the Army Christine Warmuth, who decides where most of the budget goes, echoed those concerns in an interview with CNN. She told the publication that to resolve the issue, the Army would have to “do something like take money away from Peter to pay Paul.”
“Each time I have more money, it’s very important where I put that money. And I’m always choosing between the two: Do I put it in the barracks? Do I put it in the enlistment bounty? On exercises? Do I put it there? What about modernization? I don’t have enough extra money to donate any of it,” Warmuth said.
Lack of funding could have dire consequences for Ukraine
Ukraine has previously said it would be difficult to defend itself from Russia without U.S. aid. This became clearer on Saturday when Russia seized control of the eastern town of Avdiivka.
Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s military, Oleksandr Shirushkyi, wrote on Facebook that troops were withdrawn from the area “to avoid a siege and to protect the lives and health of our service members.”
This comes after months of fighting in the region, in addition to recent fighting. report Norwegian intelligence claimed that Russia was seeking to gain a “military advantage” with “substantial” support from China, Belarus, Iran and North Korea.
“The Kremlin is likely to ramp up its war effort in the coming months. Prospects for actual negotiations are bleak, and all signs point to the war continuing through 2024,” the report said.
If Trump wins the next presidential election, the situation in Ukraine is likely to worsen further.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Sky News that President Trump “effectively allowed Republicans in Congress to keep the war fund” in order to bring “a faster victory with less loss of life on both sides.” “There is,” he said.
CNN reports that U.S. military training in Ukraine, which the president has declared critical, continues amid a lack of funding.
In addition to training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 jets at Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona, the U.S. Army’s representative for Europe and Africa told CNN that 1,500 Ukrainian military personnel are being trained at Grafenwoehr Training Range in Germany. But he said he is undergoing training. .
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