乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)在国会发表激动人心的讲话几个小时后，美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)周三宣布，美国将增加对乌克兰的导弹、枪支供应，现在又公开展示无人机。
白宫现在已经详细说明了美国正在提供哪些武器——而就在几周前，美国官员拒绝透露。
这一信息不仅是为了向乌克兰保证美国的大力支持，也是为了向莫斯科传递一个信息，即乌克兰将为入侵其邻国付出血腥的代价。
拜登在周三的一次讲话中说:“美国人民正在响应泽伦斯基总统的呼吁，为乌克兰提供更多帮助，更多武器来自卫，更多工具来抗击俄罗斯的侵略，这就是我们正在做的事情。”。
这一增加是在基辅和华盛顿施加巨大压力后发生的，两党议员都敦促拜登增加美国的军事支持。
但总统一再警告不要越过某些界限，称这将导致“第三次世界大战”其中，奥巴马政府已经排除了实施禁飞区、派遣美国军队进入乌克兰领土，或者让美国直接从波兰等北约盟国提供苏联时代的战机。
相反，拜登表示，最初的8亿美元——来自国会批准的对乌克兰的近140亿美元人道主义和军事援助——将包括800枚毒刺防空导弹、100架弹簧刀无人机和9000枚反装甲导弹，其中包括2000枚标枪反坦克导弹。
弹簧刀无人机是最新形式的致命援助-一种小型的神风式无人机，从一个可以跟踪和攻击装甲目标的管道中发射。
乌克兰武装部队已经在与入侵的俄罗斯军队的战斗中大量使用了无人机，尽管一些军事分析师说弹簧刀的威力不够大，美国也没有派出足够多的无人机。
“弹簧刀是一种有能力的系统，但与一些更现代的‘游荡弹药’相比，它有其缺点...退役将军罗伯特·艾布拉姆斯(Robert Abrams)说，他是前驻韩美军司令，现在是美国广播公司新闻分析师。
白宫周三宣布，据一名美国官员称，迄今为止，乌克兰已从美国和其他北约盟国接收了数千枚标枪导弹，其中包括大约2600枚来自美国。
在俄罗斯于2014年首次入侵其较小的民主邻国乌克兰，占领克里米亚半岛，并在东部省份顿涅茨克和卢甘斯克引发分离主义战争后，奥巴马政府一度认为标枪行动过于升级，无法提供给乌克兰。
现在，白宫不仅确认了数千枚毒刺导弹的交付，还确认了数百枚毒刺导弹的交付——即使在战争开始几天后，白宫也不会确认是否交付了这些导弹。
尽管如此，仍有许多人认为必须采取更多措施，从美国议员到乌克兰官员，再到北约东翼的北约国家领导人。
比如，在基辅与泽伦斯基会面后，波兰执政党的强势领导人、现任副总理的雅罗斯瓦夫·卡钦斯基告诉记者，应该向乌克兰派遣一支国际维和部队，并让他们拥有自卫的手段。
美国官员已经排除了这种可能性，从拜登开始，延伸到共和党议员。
“对我和政府来说，北约禁飞区似乎是一座太远的桥梁，”共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆说
但他补充说，“两党都支持立即向乌克兰发送包括战斗机和防空系统在内的一揽子计划，以便我们可以在乌克兰建立一个由乌克兰飞行员和导弹系统控制的乌克兰禁飞区。”
根据国务院和五角大楼官员的说法，政府正在与拥有比迄今为止提供的肩射毒刺和标枪更先进的导弹系统的美国盟友进行磋商。他们说，特别是有关于重新供应苏联时代或俄罗斯制造的导弹系统的谈判，比如S-300导弹电池。
美国国务院发言人内德·普莱斯周三对记者说:“他们已经在使用这些系统，他们已经在这些系统上接受了训练，并且实际上已经证明了很好的效果。”。
只有三个北约盟国拥有S-300——希腊、保加利亚和斯洛伐克。拜登的国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文(Jake Sullivan)周三与希腊国家安全顾问灭霸·多科斯博士进行了交谈，内容包括“国际努力”...以确保乌克兰有能力保卫自己，”白宫表示。
但五角大楼拒绝了波兰提出的将波兰前苏联时代的米格-29战机移交给美国监管，然后移交给乌克兰的想法，称美国情报评估警告称，此举会被克里姆林宫视为过于升级。
“我们提供的设备是防御性的，如你所知，不是进攻性的，我们认为这是一种差异，”白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基周三说。
对一些人来说，任何致命的美国援助都可能被视为越过普京的红线，因为这位强人领袖警告世界，干涉他所谓的“特别军事行动”的国家将面临“你从未见过的后果”。
美国官员表示，他们仍在鼓励其他国家直接提供战机，但立法者继续敦促白宫参与进来，特别是在泽伦斯基发表讲话之后。
格雷厄姆星期三说:“在战争史上，从来没有28架飞机对这么多人来说如此重要。”。
乌克兰已经拥有一支米格-29机队，五角大楼表示，这支机队不常使用，部分原因是俄罗斯没有控制该国的领空。
此外，据前美国欧洲司令部司令兼欧洲盟军最高司令、退役将军约瑟夫·罗尔斯顿(Joseph Ralston)说，波兰只有不到一半的飞机可以飞行。他说，苏联时代的飞机需要来自俄罗斯的备件——在当前的冲突中是不可能的——以及不断的维护，尽管现在向乌克兰人提供备件是有帮助的。
“米格-29问题与其说是一个现实世界的问题，不如说是一个象征性的问题，”罗尔斯顿在华盛顿智库战略与国际研究中心的一次活动中说。
虽然白宫在压力之下公开吹捧这项援助，但它对援助是如何落入乌克兰手中的守口如瓶。俄罗斯已经明确表示，运送军事援助是一个潜在的“目标”。
俄罗斯副外长谢尔盖·里亚布科夫(Sergei Ryabkov)告诉国营的第一频道(Channel One)新闻机构，“从他们策划的多个国家向乌克兰输送武器不仅是一个危险的举动，而且这些行动将相应的车队变成了合法的目标。”
周日，距离波兰边境仅10英里的乌克兰西部发生了一起袭击事件，造成35人死亡，100多人受伤。
“我们必须采取行动，而且要迅速行动。这不是几周的问题，而是几小时和几天的问题，”俄亥俄州共和党参议员罗布·波特曼说。
Message to Moscow: Biden boosts military aid to Ukraine in public display
Hours after an emotional address to Congress by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where he pleaded for a no-fly zone and more lethal U.S. aid, President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced the U.S. is increasing its supply of missiles, firearms, and now drones to Ukraine in a public display.
The White House has now detailed exactly what weaponry the U.S. is providing -- when just weeks ago U.S. officials refused to say.
The message is meant to not only reassure Ukraine of strong U.S. support, but also send a message to Moscow that it will pay a bloody price for its invasion of its neighbor.
"The American people are answering President Zelenskyy's call for more help, more weapons for Ukraine to defend itself, more tools to fight Russian aggression, and that's what we're doing," Biden said in an address Wednesday.
That increase comes after intense pressure from Kyiv, as well as Washington, where lawmakers of both parties have urged Biden to escalate U.S. military support.
But the president has repeatedly cautioned against crossing certain lines, saying they would lead to "World War III." Among them, the administration has ruled out implementing a no-fly zone, sending U.S. troops into Ukrainian territory, or having the U.S. directly provide Soviet-era warplanes from NATO allies like Poland.
Instead, Biden said that an initial tranche of $800 million -- from the nearly $14 billion Congress approved in humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine -- would include 800 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 100 Switchblade drones, and 9,000 anti-armor missiles, including 2,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles.
The Switchblade drone is the newest form of lethal assistance -- a small kamikaze-style drone launched from a tube that can track and attack armored targets.
Ukrainian armed forces have made powerful use of drones in their fight against invading Russian forces already, although some military analysts say the Switchblade is not powerful enough and the U.S. isn't sending enough of them.
"The Switchblade is a capable system, but has its drawbacks compared to some more modern versions of 'loitering munitions'... that you can return to base and re-use," said retired Gen. Robert Abrams, former chief of U.S. Forces Korea and now an ABC News analyst.
To date, Ukraine has received thousands of Javelin missiles from the U.S. and other NATO allies, according to a U.S. official -- including approximately 2,600 from the U.S., the White House announced Wednesday.
Javelins were once seen as too escalatory by the Obama administration to provide Ukraine after Russia first invaded its smaller, democratic neighbor in 2014, seizing the Crimean Peninsula and sparking a separatist war in the eastern provinces Donetsk and Luhansk.
Now, the White House is confirming not just the delivery of thousands of them, but of hundreds of Stinger missiles, too -- something it wouldn't confirm it was delivering even days into the war.
Still, there are many who say more must be done, from U.S. lawmakers to Ukrainian officials to leaders of NATO countries in the alliance's eastern flank.
After meeting Zelenskyy in Kyiv, for example, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the powerful leader of Poland's ruling party who serves as deputy prime minister, told reporters an international peacekeeping mission should be sent to Ukraine, with the means to defend itself.
U.S. officials have ruled that out, starting with Biden and stretching to include Republican lawmakers.
"[A] NATO no-fly zone seems to be a bridge too far for me and the administration," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
But he added that "there is bipartisan support for sending a package that includes fighter jets and air defense systems to Ukraine immediately so that we can have a Ukrainian no-fly zone manned by Ukrainian pilots and manned by missile systems in the hands of the Ukrainian military."
The administration is consulting with U.S. allies that have more advanced missile systems than the shoulder-fired Stingers and Javelins that have been provided so far, according to State Department and Pentagon officials. In particular, there are talks to resupply Soviet-era or Russian-made missile systems, they said -- such as the S-300 missile battery.
"Those are the systems on which they're already using, the systems on which they're already trained and have actually demonstrated great effect already," State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Wednesday.
Only three NATO allies have the S-300 -- Greece, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke on Wednesday to his Greek counterpart, Dr. Thanos Dokos, including about "international efforts ... to ensure Ukraine has the ability to defend itself," the White House said.
But the Pentagon has rejected an idea from Poland to have Polish Soviet-era warplanes known as MiG-29s transferred to U.S. custody and then passed onto Ukraine, saying a U.S. intelligence assessment warned the move would be seen as too escalatory by the Kremlin.
"The equipment that we provided is defensive, as you know, not offensive, and we see that as being a difference," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday.
To some, any lethal U.S. aid may be seen as crossing Putin's red line after the strongman leader warned the world that countries interfering in his so-called "special military operation" would face "consequences you have never seen."
U.S. officials have said they're still encouraging other countries to provide warplanes directly, but lawmakers continue to press the White House to get involved, especially after Zelenskyy's address.
"Never in the history of warfare have 28 planes meant so much to so many," said Graham Wednesday.
Ukraine already has a fleet of MiG-29s that the Pentagon has said they are not using often in part because Russia has not dominated the country's airspace.
In addition, fewer than half of Poland's planes may be flyable, according to retired Gen. Joseph Ralston, the former commander of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The Soviet-era planes require spare parts from Russia -- out of the question in the current conflict -- and constant maintenance, although providing their spare parts to the Ukrainians now be helpful, he said.
"The MiG-29 issue has taken on more of a symbolic issue than it is a real-world issue," Ralston said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
While the White House has publicly touted this aid in the midst of pressure to do more, it's been very tight-lipped about how it is getting into Ukrainian hands. Russia has made clear that the delivery of military aid is a potential "target."
"Pumping Ukraine with weapons from a number of countries orchestrated by them is not just a dangerous move, but these are actions that turn the corresponding convoys into legitimate targets," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state-run Channel One news agency.
A strike Sunday in western Ukraine, just 10 miles from the Polish border, has brought that risk home, killing 35 people and injuring more than 100.
"We have to act and act quickly. It's not a matter of weeks, it's a matter of hours and days," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
