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Former NATO chief calls on allies to provide military support to Ukraine

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Former NATO chief calls on allies to provide military support to Ukraine
Ukrainian tanks ride on a road outside Avdiivka, Donetsk region, on Nov. 13, 2023, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov /AFP via Getty Images)

James Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, issued a holiday appeal for increased aid to Ukraine, expressing concern and characterizing the country's cause as just, according to The Hill.

“It’s a very dangerous situation and here, the real action is actually not in Kyiv. The real action is in Washington,” Stavridis conveyed during an appearance on the "Cats Roundtable" radio show hosted by John Catsimatidis on Dec. 24. “We’ve got to provide the military support to Ukraine. Their cause is just.”

The U.S. has already sent Ukraine $111 billion in weapons, equipment, humanitarian assistance and other aid since Russian leader Vladimir Putin launched his invasion more than 21 months ago.

Stavridis further remarked that half of the Russian army has been incapacitated without the loss or jeopardy of any U.S. soldiers, emphasizing that this achievement has been accomplished with a financial commitment equivalent to just five percent of the annual U.S. defense budget.

“We can afford to do this, and we should. So I’m worried about the war in Ukraine only if the U.S. and our European allies fail to live up to the commitment we’ve made to support Ukraine,” he said.

The White House hopes that Congress will pass a funding request containing $61 billion for Ukraine in January to maintain support for Kyiv, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Dec. 20.

UK defense minister warns of ‘severe consequences’ if Putin wins war in Ukraine
“If we allow Putin to win this war by dragging it out, and he somehow wins it by exhausting everybody else, then we will suffer the consequences. And the consequences would be incredibly severe for Europe, for Britain, for the world,” Shapps said.
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Olena Goncharova

Head of North America desk

Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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