Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says Washington’s direct economic aid is what enables Kiev’s forces to fight
Janet Yellen, Secretary of the U.S. Treasury © Getty Images / Bryan Bedder
The ability of Ukraine’s armed forces to effectively fight Russia is dependent on US economic assistance, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claimed in an interview with Sky News on Monday.
“I’ve been to Ukraine and I can tell you that the direct economic aid that we are providing to them is what enables them to fight this war. It keeps hospitals open, it keeps schools open and supports first responders,” Yellen said.
Earlier this month, in an interview with the Washington Post, Ukrainian defense ministry official Gennady Kovalenko also admitted that Ukraine “depends one hundred percent on the United states,” and that US aid was essential.
To date, the United States has already approved at least $113 billion in aid to Ukraine, including over $40 billion in military assistance, according to recent calculations from the US State Department Office of Inspector General.
However, the scope of future US aid to Ukraine has recently become uncertain as a growing number of Republican lawmakers have started to oppose sending US taxpayer dollars to fund Kiev’s operations. Last month, Republican senators even threatened a government shutdown unless funding for Ukraine was scrapped from a government spending bill that included an additional $24 billion at the request of President Joe Biden.
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US National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby also stressed last week that US aid for Kiev is not “indefinite” and suggested that the Washington was running out of money for Ukraine unless Congress approved additional funding. “On the Ukraine funding, we’re coming near to the end of the rope,” he told reporters.
In her interview with Sky News, Yellen stated that Washington’s financial outlook was nevertheless sufficient to be able to afford two wars and continue supporting both Ukraine in its fight against Russia as well as Israel in its escalating conflict with Hamas.
She warned, however, that the potential economic ramifications of a larger conflict in the Middle East remain unknown, particularly amid an already volatile global oil and natural gas market that has contributed to a cost-of-living crisis in several Western economies in the past year.
