The United States Marine Corps has warned that the constant support it has provided to Ukraine’s military over the last three years of war has significantly drained its own supplies and could impact war readiness. This was the testimony of the second highest-ranked Marine, Gen. Christopher Mahoney (assistant commandant of the Marines), to a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday.
“The Marine Corps has provided over $2 billion [replacement cost about $5 billion] in equipment and munitions to the Armed Forces of Ukraine via PDA presidential drawdown authority],” Mahoney said in his opening statement.
“Replacement and reimbursement for these inventory losses are needed to rebuild the depth of magazine needed to gain and maintain lost proficiency,” the General added.
He emphasized that “significant challenges” remain the meet production demands needed to replenish Marine Corps arms and equipment handed over to Ukraine:
“Though some funds have been reimbursed through PDA replenishment funds, the defense industrial base (DIB) faces significant challenges in meeting production demands for replenishment.”
Mahoney continued, “New procurement lead times delay replenishment, as existing programmed deliveries take priority. To mitigate impacts, the Marine Corps has adjusted training allocations and inventory management.”
“However, continued high demand support may require the service to accept further risks to either training readiness or strategic readiness,” the number-two top Marine general added.
While he emphasized that the US Marine Corps stands read to defend the nation, it remains that the American military is facing “four disparate-threat state actors: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.” He described the four as “colluding into a single, complex, and adaptive global threat system.”
“We remain the world’s most elite fighting force with the most proficient combined arms teams and best small unit leaders,” he said. “The extraordinary quality of our Marines remains our principal advantage.”
How much aid has the US actually sent Ukraine over the course of the war with Russia? The Council on Foreign relations has some new figures:
The U.S. Congress has voted through five bills that have provided Ukraine with aid since the war began, doing so most recently in April 2024. The total budget authority under these bills—the “headline” figure often cited by news media—is $175 billion. The historic sums have helped a broad set of Ukrainian people and institutions, including refugees, law enforcement, and independent radio broadcasters, though most of the aid has been military-related.
Gen. Mahony as expected also highlighted that the Marines have adapted to the new challenges presented by the last several years of conflict in multiple places.
“We are innovating and adapting from lessons learned from the modern battlefields of Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, Red Sea, and our own exercises,” he told the Senators.
President Trump over the last weeks has also expressed deep concern that a blank check mentality towards Ukraine under the Biden administration served to weaken US military readiness, and the American economy more broadly. After a brief halt in arms shipments to Kiev starting last week and into the weekend, the US weapons pipeline has been declared back on after the Jeddah talks.
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