Biden Calls on Congress to Pass Ukraine Aid

At an early St. Patrick’s Day event with the Irish prime minister and officials including House Speaker Mike Johnson, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass the foreign aid package that would provide $95 billion for U.S. allies, including Ukraine and Israel.

“I urge you to send me the national security bill now,” Biden said, referring to the legislation that has been passed by the Senate but held up in the House by Johnson. “The bill includes funding for Ukraine and Israel and maybe equally important, humanitarian assistance to Gaza. They badly, badly need it. And it sends a clear message that America stands up for freedom and we bow down to no one, to no one in the world.”

Biden also called on lawmakers to sustain the fight against Russian aggression. “I continue to urge every member in this room to stand up to Vladimir Putin. He’s a thug,” he said, drawing a round of applause from the attendees, including Johnson.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s taoiseach, or prime minister, echoed Biden’s call for aid. “Ukraine must not fall, and together we need to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” he said. Although Ireland maintains a policy of neutrality and is not a member of NATO, it has provided support for Ukraine, including more than $200 million in humanitarian assistance.

Last fall, Reada Cronin, a member of the Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament, explained the country’s stance on Ukraine, comparing it to the historical relationship between Ireland and the U.K. “While we are militarily neutral, Ireland is fully supportive of Ukraine and its right to defend itself,” she told Al Jazeera. “We had a belligerent neighbor and we can see a lot of commonalities with Ukraine. We want to try to help them as much as we can while maintaining our neutrality.”

A bleak outlook: U.S. officials are warning that if Congress fails to provide more aid for Ukraine quickly, the results could be dire, ranging from enormous Ukrainian casualties to a total breakdown in the country’s defensive lines amid a Russian onslaught.

“This doesn’t go well for Ukraine over time without a supplemental, and it could lead to potential collapse,” a senior U.S. official told The Washington Post.

The lack of anti-aircraft weapons is making the daily Russian drone and missile attacks more deadly, and a shortage of artillery shells is forcing Ukrainian troops to ration, officials say. Russia possesses an enormous advantage when it comes to the production of military basics like artillery shells, an imbalance exacerbated by the halt of American assistance and the failure of European allies to deliver some of the supplies they pledged to provide this year.

Earlier this week, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee that Ukraine is already starting to lose some of the gains it has made against Russian forces. “Ukraine's retreat from Avdiivka and their struggle to stave off further territorial losses in the past few weeks have exposed the erosion of Ukraine's military capabilities with the declining availability of external military aid,” she told lawmakers. “Without that assistance, it is hard to imagine how Ukraine will be able to maintain the extremely hard-fought advances it has made against the Russians.”