U.S. aid to reach Ukraine 'within days,' ambassador says during Michigan trip

Washington — A pending $60.8 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine, which passed a contentious but bipartisan vote in the House over the weekend, could result in supplies and financial assistance reaching the war-torn country “within days,” according to the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

“The assistance couldn't come faster, sooner or at a better time,” Bridget Brink, the ambassador and an East Grand Rapids native, said Tuesday during a visit to Michigan.

The package still needs authorization from the Senate and President Joe Biden, but Ambassador Brink and other officials expect swift approval. The Senate could pass the bill as soon as Tuesday night, and Biden has publicly pledged to sign the bill immediately. 

Ukraine had built some momentum in its counteroffensive against Russia by the end of 2022, but that effort has largely stalled out. Since then, U.S. aid for Ukraine has gone from a uniting, consensus issue to a divisive one. The political breakthrough — and the aid package it yielded — represents a critical moment in a war with effects that have rippled across the world, including Michigan.

"Ukraine is losing territory. It's losing its energy infrastructure and it's losing its people. And without our assistance, I do not see a path for Ukraine to prevail," Brink told The Detroit News. "In fact, I see Russia being able to take back all the gains that the Ukrainians have made over the last two years..."

Brink spoke to The News by phone ahead of a speech she delivered Tuesday afternoon in Ann Arbor to students at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

To date, the U.S. has provided about $77.7 billion in military, humanitarian and financial aid to support the war effort in Ukraine, according to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. That is more than any individual country, though European Union institutions have given $84.99 billion.

Much of the new package — about $13.8 billion — will go towards the purchase of U.S. weapons. The package also includes more than $9 billion in economic assistance in the form of forgivable loans.

Brink said President Biden has made it "an all hands on deck effort" to press Congress for passage of the new aid package. Brink said she gave an on-the-ground assessment to members of the House during a closed session last week and met with "basically every House member who was available" to communicate just how urgent the funding was.

She added that — beyond a responsibility to "fight for what's right" — there are two critical strategic reasons for the U.S. to continue its support for Ukraine. The first, she said, was to avoid a conflict between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia.

"It's widely assessed, and I personally believe this too, that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not stop at Ukraine, that he will be emboldened and will continue to try to grab territory following any takeover of Ukraine," Brink said. "It potentially brings our troops into the dynamic where we would have to respond to a direct threat to NATO."

The second reason is that "the entire world is watching, including China." Brink stressed the importance of showing American allies and enemies that the U.S. will vigorously defend freedom around the world.

Michigan lawmakers in Washington were split on supporting the aid package.

"Putin's game is to destroy, not to build. And what he is doing is destroying Ukrainian grain shipping, steel production, destabilizing global food prices," Brink said. "Whether it's the number at the gas pump, the price of cereal at the breakfast table or the cost of steel for making cars, Putin's actions actually affect all of us — including in Michigan — in our daily lives.

House and Senate votes

The aid package had mixed support from Michigan’s 13-member U.S. House delegation. All of the delegation’s Democrats who were present over the weekend voted in favor of the package. On the Republican side, five of six voted against it.

Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, was the only Republican who voted for the measure, though others — like Reps. Tim Walberg of Tipton and Lisa McClain of Bruce Township — said they still support Ukraine.

"Right now, there are higher priorities throughout the world, and here at home, that need our attention and capital. We must focus on securing our border and combating crime before we do anything else," McClain said in a statement.

"But to be clear, that does not reflect my steadfast support for Ukraine during this awful war," she added.

Michigan House Democrats expressed unequivocal support for the aid package.

"This national security bill will provide Ukraine with the support it needs to fight back against Putin’s brutal invasion. America lives up to its word and stands with our democratic allies, " said U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, in a statement. "The United States and the rest of the world cannot let authoritarians attack or invade other countries without being held accountable."

The House also passed a series of other bills over the weekend that included military aid for Israel, humanitarian assistance in Gaza, funds for U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific region, and a provision that would ban TikTok unless its Chinese parent company ByteDance sells the popular social media platform.

The Senate approved a procedural vote Tuesday afternoon that tees up the aid packages for final passage later in the evening or on Wednesday. Both Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, and Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, voted to advance the bills toward final passage.

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Human toll in Ukraine

Though much of the recent attention on Ukraine in the U.S. has been about the politics surrounding an aid package, Brink emphasized that the war continues to have a devastating impact.

"I have been now in Ukraine for two years, and the stories that I have heard about the violence and abuse that the Russian forces have subjected Ukrainians to is really hard to even imagine in this day and age," Brink said. "It's really something I can only imagine my grandfathers who fought in World War II would have ever faced, or things that I have only seen in museums describing the Holocaust and the horrors of that time."

Brink, a 28-year veteran of the State Department, said ten million Ukrainians remain displaced from their homes, while every day people are dying and more become displaced.

"These are huge numbers that are very destabilizing to Europe and to the world," said Brink, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia under former President Donald Trump. "There have been over 100,000 war crimes and atrocities. These are war crimes and atrocities like I have never seen before. And I've been in conflict areas nearly my whole career."

She told the story of a Ukrainian grandmother in Bucha, a city near Kyiv, who tried to flee Russian forces with her 18-year-old grandson. Fearing the Russian forces would kill them, as they had others in the city, the grandmother took her grandson in the car to find an escape route, Brink said.

But they reached a street with Russian troops and got halfway through before Russian gunfire killed the woman's grandson, Brink said.

"It was with great pain that she told the story because I'm a mother myself, but she was not consolable," Brink said. "I think about all of these horrible stories and think about if I were in my hometown of East Grand Rapids and driving through the street and it were my son, or my relative who was shot.

"This is absolutely a fight for what's right. That's what President Biden has said, and it's what (House Speaker Mike) Johnson has said. In my experience on the ground, this is a clear fight between good and evil," she added.

gschwab@detroitnews.com

@GrantSchwab