Remember when the Biden administration blamed Congress when Ukraine lost a key settlement

In February 2024, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not going well for Kyiv. Ukraine was waiting for American politicians to approve additional military assistance and was losing ground to Russia in a key sector.

Russia would win its first major battlefield victory in Ukraine in February 2024 since its armed forces captured Bakhmut in May 2023, something that the Biden administration blamed Congress, and its unwillingness to pass a new round of security funding, for the defeat. 

On February 17th, Ukraine announced its withdrawal from the defensive fortress city of Avdiivka. It was a major strategic defeat for the country. 

“This is the cost of congressional inaction,” National Security Council Adrienne Watson explained according to a report from the New York Times. “The Ukrainians continue to fight bravely, but they are running low on supplies.”

At the time, the U.S. Senate had passed a bill approving a $60.1 billion dollar emergency funding package for Ukraine but it was unclear if lawmakers in the House of Representatives would vote in favor of extra security aid for Kyiv. 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said he wasn't going to put the aid up for a vote at the time and was reluctant to let the affairs of a foreign nation after the legislative processes of the United States. 

“The Republican-led House will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill,” Johnson stated at a press conference on February 14th following a closed-door meeting with House Republicans according to the Associated Press. 

However, it wasn’t just Biden’s administration that came down hard on Congress following the fall of Avdiivka, Biden himself appeared to blame U.S. lawmakers for Ukraine's first defeat in 2024 while he was speaking with President Volodymyr Zelensky about the loss. 

A White House readout from Biden’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after Avdiivka fell stated the Ukrainian Armed Forces were compelled to pull out from Avdiivka after troops had to ration ammunition due to “dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction.”

The readout also noted that the withdrawal from Avdiivka was Moscow’s first victory in months and asked lawmakers to “pass the national security supplemental funding bill to resupply Ukrainian forces.”

Zelensky also blamed Ukraine’s retreat from Avdiivka on the country’s lack of munitions while speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 17th, and he called on Western nations for more assistance. 

“Our dear friends are unfortunately keeping Ukraine in an artificial deficit of weapons, particularly in artillery and long-range capabilities . . . This self-weakening of democracy over time undermines our joint results,” Zelensky said, according to The Telegraph. 

The House of Representatives eventually approved the $61 billion dollar in additional aid to Ukraine in April 2024, and Biden signed the bill into law on April 24th, which was set to provide six months of assistance to the Ukrainians. However, the damage was done.

The loss of Avdiivka eventually led to the situation Ukraine is in as of mid-September on its eastern front in the Pokrovsk region. BBC News reporters Ilya Abishev and Tom Bennett noted in an August 31st article that the battle of Pokrovsk "is really a continuation of the battle for Avdiivka."

"Avdiivka, which is about 40km (25 miles) south-east of Pokrovsk, was seen as a fortress that protected the settlements and roads to its west - helping to bolster Ukraine’s presence along the entire frontline," Abishev and Bennett wrote.

"When it finally fell, Avdiivka was left in ruins. It was a serious loss for Ukraine... It meant that Russia could move its focus to Pokrovsk and the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar, which overlooks some of the important cities in Donetsk still under Ukrainian control," Abishev and Bennett added.

Russia has made serious gains against both Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk. The Russian Armed Forces captured parts of Chasiv Yar in July which opened the door to further advances according to CNN. On September 14th, BBC News reported that troops fear Pokrovsk could soon be encircled. 

Photo Credit: X @War_Mapper