Prior to the war in the Middle East, Ukraine was already facing a weakening of aid and funding as the assisting countries were increasingly focusing on domestic issues, according to ABC News.
To some extent, Kyiv’s problem in its war with Moscow lies not with Vladimir Putin or Russian military tactics, but with the indecisiveness and unreliability of its allies, who switch their decisions occasionally.
Ukraine is rapidly losing support among both Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress. Joe Biden’s Democrats and Donald Trump’s Republicans face a hardening public opinion: people see no reason to pay for another foreign war.
According to a Reuters poll, support for sending weapons to Kyiv fell from 39 per cent to 35 per cent among Republicans and from 61 per cent to 52 per cent among Democrats.
Washington, as NATO’s largest sponsor, has a profound influence on the organisation. The situation in Israel and Gaza is forcing European leaders to reassess priorities and decide which region needs more help today: The Middle East or Ukraine.
The US provides Israel with $3.3 billion a year in military aid, about 16 percent of Israel’s defence budget. After the Hamas attack, Israel requested additional aid in ammunition and air defences.
Hours after the terror group’s attack, the US began deploying warships and aircraft to the region to provide everything Israel needed to respond.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
The message that I bring you is this: you may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself — but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there, by your side.
The Hamas attack, according to military experts, was due to a terrible omission by Israeli intelligence. The country is now doing everything possible to correct the mistake. Israel’s military advantage over Hamas can be seen in the retaliation, with 6,000 bombs dropped in six days.
Yet the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine is entirely different. Support for Israel has been strong and real, while the provision of real aid to Ukraine has been slow and reluctant.
Experts assume that Ukraine will probably cease to exist without US and NATO support. However, Kyiv has not received F-16 fighter jets even 20 months after the outbreak of the war.
Ukraine is able to hold its defences and make slow progress in a so-called counter-offensive, but without NATO air support it is virtually impossible to achieve this.
A leading Rand Corporation analyst, Brynn Tannehill, believes the F-16s are critical to helping Ukraine operate better with NATO countries.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a long-term game in which the shift in priorities from Ukraine to the war between Israel and Hamas may fundamentally affect the outcome of the war in Ukraine.
