A US Army official has warned that it could run out of money for essential international global operations if the government fails to provide further funding for Ukraine.
The unnamed official told CNN that the Army is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to support Ukraine, including funds that were initially intended to be used as part of the Europe and Africa Command budget.
The Senate last week passed a $95 billion emergency defense-aid bill that could support Ukraine, Israel, and Tawain. An estimated $60 billion of that aid would be set aside for Ukraine if the bill is passed. However, it is expected to face pushback by Republicans, Business Insider previously reported.
The Army’s Europe and Africa Command has around $3 billion that can go toward operational costs in 2024, CNN reported — but it’s not enough.
That’s $2 billion less than the overall estimated budget that will be required to fund training, weapons, and equipment for Ukraine, but also for other operations within the US Command in Europe and Africa, a second senior Army official told CNN.
The lack of government funding matters — if it isn’t secured soon, the Army will run out of funds by the end of May, leaving Europe and Africa with no budget for training and maintenance, they said.
“If we don’t get a base budget, if we don’t get Ukraine supplemental [funding package], if the government shuts down, if we get nothing else and nothing changes from today…we will run out of [operations and maintenance] funding in May,” the official told the publication.
A spokesperson for the US Army told BI that “it’s important we receive money — now.”
“The impact would be our ability to train with allied partners, and our ability to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank,” the spokesperson said.
“That doesn’t mean those individual countries and NATO at large can’t do things, but from a US perspective and a US Army perspective, that comes to an end.”
“We just saw the Vice President pledge continued US support for Ukraine and NATO,” the spokesperson said, referencing Kamala Harris’s appearance at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
“But if there’s no money, there’s no ability for us to back up words. Words are great, but actions speak louder than words,” they added.
The Army official told CNN that it “would cease to exist” if funds weren’t allocated from another area within the overall budget.
Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, who decides where most of the budget is allocated, echoed these concerns in an interview with CNN. She told the publication that the Army would “have to sort of rob Peter to pay Paul” to resolve the issue.
“Every incremental dollar I have, it’s very important where I put that dollar. And I’m constantly choosing between, do we put it on barracks? Do I put it on enlistment incentives? Do I put it on exercises? Do I put it on modernization? I don’t have spare cash to be just sort of donating some of that,” Wormuth said.
Lack of funding could have dire consequences for Ukraine
Ukraine previously said it would struggle to defend itself against Russia without US aid. This became more apparent on Saturday as Russia took control of the eastern town Avdiivka.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, wrote on Facebook that he pulled troops out of the region “to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen.”
This comes after months of fighting in the region in addition to a recent report by Norway’s Intelligence Service which claimed that Russia was about to gain the “military upper hand” due to “considerable” support from China, Belarus, Iran, and North Korea.
“The Kremlin is expected to step up its war effort in the months ahead. The prospect of real negotiations is dim, and all signs point to the war continuing throughout 2024,” the report said.
Ukraine’s situation is likely set to worsen if Trump is elected in the upcoming presidential election.
Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, told Sky News that Trump “practically giving a green light to Republicans in Congress to hold up this funding for the war” to bring “victory sooner with fewer lives lost on either side.”
US training of Ukrainian troops has continued amid the funding shortage as it has been declared critical by the president, CNN reported.
A representative for the US Army Europe and Africa told CNN that 1,500 Ukrainian military personnel are being trained at Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany in addition to Ukrainian pilot training, which is taking place in F-16 fighter aircraft at Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona.
