The United States and European nations vowed on Tuesday to maintain military support for Ukraine, even though future American aid remains snarled in Congress and modest donations of new weapons reflected an alliance with relatively little left to give as the war against Russia enters a critical stretch.
The U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, in Germany for the start of a meeting of about 50 governments that are supplying Kyiv’s forces, said that allies would “dig deeper to get vital security assistance to Ukraine.”
To that end, Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said Berlin would send Ukraine 10,000 rounds of badly needed artillery shells, 100 armored infantry vehicles and transport equipment in a new $544 million infusion of support. The Finnish defense chief, Antti Häkkänen, announced a $32 million donation to help the Czech Republic buy 800,000 rounds of ammunition, including from beyond NATO-member militaries and manufacturers.
And Mr. Austin highlighted the new $300 million package of attack and air defense missiles, artillery rounds and armor systems that the United States pledged for Ukraine last week.
Yet Ukrainian forces could burn through much of the new aid within months, if not weeks. It is unlikely that the Biden administration will be able to send much more unless Republicans in the House of Representatives unlock a $60 billion emergency spending plan for additional weapons for Ukraine and to bolster armament production in the United States.
“We will have to deal with it, and we will deal with it,” Mr. Pistorius said on the sidelines of the meeting, held at Ramstein Air Base, an American military hub in Germany, when asked about the blocked funding in Washington.
