In Ukraine, the vote to renew American aid was welcomed. But the unrest for the future remains

Kyiv, Ukraine – Lawmaker Oleksandra Ustinova, who heads the Ukrainian parliament’s arms committee, has for months urged Congress to stop blocking nearly $61 billion in military and economic aid to her country.

She repeatedly warned them that Russian troops are advancing because Ukrainian soldiers are running low on ammunition and weapons.

Ustinova despaired that no one was listening. The House of Representatives finally approved the aid package on Saturday. The bill provides nearly $61 billion in aid, including nearly $14 billion to help Ukraine purchase advanced weapons systems and defense equipment and $13.7 billion to purchase U.S. defense systems for Ukraine.

“I literally cried,” she says. “You can’t imagine how important it is to us. We had nothing to shoot with. Now there is a green light at the end of the hallway.”

The vote came after Russian airstrikes hit several Ukrainian cities, killing dozens. The relief package is expected to clear the Senate. President Biden has said the White House will move quickly to send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to “meet urgent battlefield needs.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia is firing 10 times more artillery shells than Ukraine can and had warned that Ukraine could lose the war if the House of Representatives does not approve the aid package.

Ukrainians welcomed the vote in the House of Representatives, which will provide new supplies of artillery shells and air defense missiles and also support the Ukrainian economy, which is suffering badly after more than two years of large-scale attacks by Russia on the country. But Ukraine’s relief that it can fight to live another day also comes with anxiety about future U.S. aid.

In a video address on Saturday, Zelenskyy thanked House Speaker Mike Johnson and called on the US to continue supporting Ukraine in the future.

“America showed its leadership from the first days of the war,” he said. “This kind of American leadership is critical to maintaining a rules-based international order.”

Zelensky and other Ukrainian leaders often warn that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine threatens Europe and the West, and that Ukrainian soldiers cannot stop the Russians alone.

Valentyn Romaniuk, a 22-year-old soldier from Ukraine’s Third Assault Brigade, saw this firsthand on the Eastern Front, where his unit was outgunned.

He lost his leg in a fight and is now learning to walk with a prosthesis.

“Delays in aid from our partners cost not only lives, but also limbs,” Romaniuk said as he rested on a bench in Kiev. “With all the deaths and injuries, there are far fewer troops left defending Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian military cited delays in military funding as a reason why troops had to ration ammunition. While Ukraine waited, its forces were forced to withdraw from Avdiivka, a strategic eastern city that Ukrainian forces had defended against Russian occupation for a decade. Encouraged, Russian forces stepped up offensives along several points in eastern Ukraine.

Another soldier, Anton Tarasov, says a new injection of military aid “will be a great spiritual boost, a great emotional boost. Because the Russians were so encouraged all along. And all their propaganda said (to the Ukrainians): ‘America has failed you, it’s time to give it up or we’re going to kill you all.’

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that while the aid package will make America richer, it will further ruin Ukraine and lead to more Ukrainian deaths. Peskov also condemned provisions in the bill that could allow the US to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian citizens say they have been besieged by Russian attacks as they waited for the vote in the House of Representatives.

“So many people are dying,” said Khrystyna Naridzhenyan, 25, as she called a customer at her family’s supermarket in Kiev. “If there is an opportunity to stop this, we will wait for it.”

Her family’s supermarket was heavily damaged by shrapnel from recent Russian rocket attacks. Above the store hangs a yellow banner with the inscription: “We Are Working.”

She says the supermarket could have been spared if Ukraine had stronger air defenses.

Ukraine does not have sufficient air defense systems to intercept all Russian missiles and drones. And the ones that get through are deadly.

The strikes have also caused enormous damage to infrastructure. The World Bank and the European Commission estimate that Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction will cost almost $500 billion. The bill continues to rise as the attacks continue to occur.

Valentyna Maksymenko, 64, also works in the supermarket. She says the Ukrainians will keep fighting even if American support fades.

“But it will be very difficult for us,” she says. “Many of us will be destroyed.”

In a park in Kiev, Serhii Bykon, a 44-year-old IT specialist, watches his young son run around a playground rebuilt after a Russian attack.

He says the US aid package should give Ukraine a fighting chance for the time being. But he is not counting on American help in the future, especially if the government changes.

“There is so much uncertainty,” he says. “That’s why we can’t feel safe.”

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