Do you know what Ukraine lost while it waited for America to debate providing more military aid?

After months of waiting for the United States to decide on whether or not it would provide Ukraine with tens of billions in military assistance, Joe Biden finally was able to sign a bill on April 24th that renewed the flow of arms from the U.S. to Ukriane. But much was lost in that time.

Ukraine was set to receive $61 billion dollars in assistance from the United States and Reuters noted that the impact of that help would be immediate, reporting that Biden said he had approved a $1 billion dollar aid package for Ukraine. 

Biden said that weapon supplies would begin flowing to Ukraine within hours and the new package included some of the weapons and ammunition Kyiv desperately needs to combat the gains being made by Russian forces. 

According to Reuters, everything from new vehicles and Stinger air defense missiles to additional ammunition for artillery and high mobility rocket systems was being sent to Kyiv in the first round of its newly approved assistance. 

“It was a difficult path…It should have been easier. It should have gotten there sooner,” Biden explained according to the New York Times. “But in the end, we did what America always does: We rose to the moment, came together. We got it done.”

While the United States may have gotten it done as Biden claimed. It took six months for the House of Representatives to approve the new assistance for Ukraine, and in that time the Ukrainians suffered—a fact the Biden administration admitted at the time.

When asked if the six-month delay in assistance had cost Ukraine any actual damage on the ground by a reporter on April 23rd, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby explained that the delay had had consequences. 

“Oh, my goodness, yes. Oh, yeah. No question about it,” Kirby said, explaining Moscow had been causing damage with its massive drone and missile campaigns since Ukraine couldn’t shoot down all of the targets due to shortages. 

Kirby also pointed out that Ukraine lost a lot of ground in the Donbas region, especially after the fall of Avdiivka explaining Russia slowly began to push Ukraine against its first and second defensive lines, and even third lines in some areas. 

“And as they push forward, of course, they’re causing infrastructure damage; they’re — they’re shelling cities; you know, they’re forcing people to flee; I mean, and they’re — obviously, the Ukrainians are taking casualties in this fight,” Kirby added. 

“So, yes, the short — it’s a long answer, but the short answer is: Yes, there absolutely has been damage in the last several months,” Kirby continued. However, he isn’t the only Western official to note that the U.S. delay in approving aid hurt Ukraine. 

While speaking with MSNBC on April 21st, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Congress’ delay in approving Ukraine aid had “had real consequences” for the Ukrainians according to a quote of his comments from The Kyiv Independent. 

"The Ukrainians have now, for months, been outgunned, roughly one to five, one to 10, depending on what part of the front line you are talking about," Stoltenberg explained to the American news outlet. 

"We have seen that fewer Russian missiles and drones have been shot down simply because they lack air defense systems and also ammunition," Stoltenberg added, which undoubtedly contributed to both infrastructure and casualty losses. 

In terms of concrete losses, Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War Kateryna Stepanenko told Reuters on April 21st that Ukraine lost 583 square kilometers or roughly 362 miles of territory since October 2023, mostly due to artillery shortages. 

"The aid is coming way too late, as material shortages resulted in Ukraine losing the initiative in October 2023," Stepanenko said. The biggest loss for Ukraine was likely the fortress city of Avdiivka in mid-February. Biden blamed the loss of the key settlement on delays in U.S. aid. 

“This morning, Ukraine’s military was forced to withdraw from Avdiivka after Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction, resulting in Russia’s first notable gains in months.” a White House statement on February 17th read. 

The Kyiv Post reported that Ukraine's energy infrastructure suffered greatly because of delays in American aid with the most notable loss being the destruction of the Trypillia Thermal Power Plant in Kyiv. 

When asked how the planet was destroyed in an interview with PBS NewsHour, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: Why? Because there were zero missiles. We have run out of all the missiles that protected the Trypillia TPP.”

Ukraine was undoubtedly affected by the six-month gap in military assistance from the United States. However, now that $61 billion in aid has been approved, and weapons have been flowing to Kyiv for months, the tide of Russian aggression does seem, to be stemmed a bit. But the Ukrainians aren't out of the woods yet and the initiative in the war still seems to be with Moscow going into the summer months. 

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