Military aid becomes media football in Ukraine and U.S.

Ukrainian defense minister Andriy Taran called reports
of the United States freezing military aid a part of Russia’s war against
Ukraine “on all fronts”. Moreover, the misinformation from Russian sources has
filtered into Ukrainian media, he stated in a June 19 release on the defense
ministry’s website.

The remarks came after a June 18 article was published
on politico.com regarding the suspension in April 2021 of an ad-hoc military
aid package organized at the height of the tension over the Russian troop
build-up. According to washingtonpost.com on June 16, the delivery of the aid
was stopped in April as the Russian military began pulling back some of its
forces. Whitehouse spokesperson Jen Psaki released a statement on
whitehouse.gov calling the reports “nonsense”, and claimed that in the week
before the Biden-Putin summit in Geneva, the U.S. delivered USD 150 million in
aid, including lethal assistance.

James Hydzik: The
Ukrainian media reports that Taran is referring to information based mostly on
the Politico report. This article starts with “The Biden White House has
temporarily halted a military aid package to Ukraine…”, and never says when
the stop occurred, or why. It also makes for a confusing read for someone not
familiar with the Washington Post article upon which it is based. The
Washington Post article, however, is interesting because it points to real
differences of opinion within the Biden administration on the use of the aid,
with some urging to send it regardless, and others wanting to make it
contingent on Russian behavior. Neither side has any reported qualms about the
further arming of Ukraine.

Taran’s and Psaki’s direct rebuttals were
necessary, but as there is no mechanism for raising the consequences of sloppy
reporting, Russia’s attacks on this front, at least, will continue whenever
given a chance.