$60 billion for Ukraine. "It's a lot and so little at the same time"

On Thursday, President Joe Biden said he would ask Congress for an additional 60 billion dollars in aid for Ukraine. Ukraine's presidential administration adviser Mykhailo Podolyak commented on this amount and assessed the potential benefits for the front - reports belsat.eu.

According to a letter published by the White House from the head of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young, the administration is proposing to allocate more than $11.8 billion for direct support of Ukraine's budget, which is expected to last for a whole year, and around $50 billion for military support and other expenses, including increasing ammunition production, maintaining an increased presence of US troops in the region, intelligence support, as well as loans and grants for Ukraine and Eastern Flank NATO countries. On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced that he will ask Congress for an additional $60 billion to aid Ukraine.

- War is always very costly. Especially if it is a war of enormous scale. We have 1120 miles of border, 808 miles where battles are being fought directly. There was never such a frontline - said in an interview with Channel-24 Podolak.

Podolak added that a huge amount of equipment and people were involved in the battles. At the same time, the figure given by the Americans is "both a lot and a little".

- For example, Russia is spending today 35 percent of its national budget on war. However, let's consider what Russia's budget is, taking into account the amount of resources sold on foreign markets. It's about 11 trillion rubles, which are spent directly on the war itself. And I'm not talking about the indirect costs of war. For example, one Patriot system costs a billion dollars, not counting the cost of anti-missile missiles that will have to be used. War is always very, very costly

As of today, Ukraine is forced to spend nearly a lion's share of its budget on military funding. This limits the ability to finance some social programs. Podolak noted that the current war is extreme. In particular, how much are drones and long-range precision weapons worth? Therefore, he believes that "the number of 60 billion isn't much when we talk about the price in this war: victory or defeat". At the same time, the official is convinced that Ukraine is significantly better mentally prepared for what is happening today in Eastern Europe.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the total amount of aid for Ukraine from the United States as of August amounted to $66.2 billion, of which $43.1 billion was military aid, $20.5 billion was part of economic support, and another $2.6 billion was humanitarian aid.

$10 billion is to be allocated to humanitarian aid programs in Ukraine and the region, as well as in the Middle East. Apart from support for Ukraine, the White House's proposal includes over $14 billion for military aid to Israel, of which $4 billion will be directly transferred to Israel for the purchase of missiles for the Iron Dome and David's Sling air defense systems. The strengthening of military aid to Israel in connection with the Hamas attack will not affect the support of the United States for Ukraine in its war with Russia - announced on Tuesday by the ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith.

The White House also wants to grant 2 billion dollars for Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific countries to purchase American weapons, as well as 13.6 billion dollars to strengthen the southern border in the face of the migration crisis. The money is intended to be used to employ 1,300 new border officers and almost 2,000 immigration system employees.

"Hamas and Russia represent different threats. But they have in common that they want to completely annihilate neighboring democracies" - said the president. "We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I won't allow it. In such times, we must remember who we are - we are the United States of America. And there is nothing that would be beyond our capabilities, if we stand together" - Biden appealed.