On Friday, the Biden administration announced its Ukrainian sympathy with additional penalties and strong words, authorising a new $2 billion arms package to re-arm Kyiv a year after Russia's invasion.
Despite the United States' and its allies' ongoing ambitious attempts to support the Ukrainians, there is no evidence of an endgame in the war, which appears set to enter an even more difficult phase in the coming months.
On this solemn day, Biden and his fellow leaders from the Group of Seven countries who have been in the forefront of supporting Ukraine maintained a unified front.
"Our solidarity with Ukraine, with nations and people in need, and with sustaining the international order based on the rule of law will never waver," the G-7 leaders said in a joint statement following a virtual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Pentagon revealed its newest weapons package as Ukraine mourned its war dead and promised to emerge triumphant. More ammo, electronic warfare detection equipment, and other armaments to fight Russia's unmanned systems, as well as many types of drones, including the improved Switchblade 600 Kamikaze attack drone, are included.
The most recent assistance package makes advantage of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to support long-term contracts to purchase weapons and equipment. Unlike the presidential drawdown power, which the Pentagon has used twice in the last year to remove weapons from its own stockpiles and immediately dispatch them to Ukraine, the USAI-funded materiel may take a year or two to reach the battleground. As a result, it will do nothing to assist Ukraine in preparing for a fresh onslaught expected in the spring.
"Difficult times may lie ahead, but let us stay clear-eyed about what is at stake in Ukraine," U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, "to guarantee that a society of laws and rights is not replaced by one of dictatorship and turbulence."
In an interview with ABC News on Friday, Biden indicated he is not ready to send F-16 fighter fighters to Ukraine. Zelenskyy has pressed the United States and its allies for aircraft, but White House officials have said that they are not the type of armament that Ukrainians want in the short term.
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