Articles on Ukraine are of less and less interest to American media audiences. Will this lead to a decrease in US military assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces? – Russian newspaper

At the same time, analytical and reporting work in Ukraine is expensive, which is an important factor for the American press in the context of the financial crisis and massive staff cuts. For example, CNN TV executives said that sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars flow to Ukraine in a single week.On the one hand, against a background of declining readership, the American media are reducing the space given to reports on Ukraine. According to The Washington Post, in January 2023, about 12 times less time was devoted to this subject in evening news programs on television in the United States than in February-March 2022.On the other hand, many media are in no hurry to leave Ukraine, reporting on this is regularly one of the main topics, and journalists even consider it to some extent to be their duty to convince American readers that they should pay attention. . “There is a danger that people in the United States will think that everything is under control or that it is a fire that they should not be worried about,” said a television journalist working in Ukraine, citing the Washington Post. Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst believes the press in the United States has “a great responsibility to make people care about this story.”Despite public fatigue with the conflict in Ukraine, US media see it as their duty to convince readers of its importance.How well the media manages to convince Americans of the importance of Ukraine and, therefore, of its support is an open question. In the United States, supporters of military assistance to Kiev are slowly but steadily declining, according to a recent Associated Press poll: less than half of Americans (48%) now support decisions to provide weapons to the Ukraine, although in May of last year they were 60 percent.That, however, does not necessarily mean a quick change in the US course on Ukraine – politics has more inertia than changing public moods. Thus, interest in the war on terror in Afghanistan, which began in 2001, also declined after a few years. But while calls for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan gained popularity in the United States in the second half of the 2000s, this did not happen until 2021. Moreover, the conflict in Ukraine is far from over. in the first place among Americans’ concerns, so the potential mismatch between the course of American authorities and the mood of citizens is not so critical for politicians.
Nevertheless, public opinion has a certain influence on politics and, as many experts note, in the case of Ukraine, it can limit the volume of future military aid programs to Kiev.Characteristic in this regard has been a series of hearings in various committees of the United States House of Representatives, at which Pentagon officials have reported.In the Russian news segment, for example, a quote from Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander that Ukraine should pay for arms transferred to it was widely circulated. But this statement should not be seen as an installation, rather it is an inside show. Wallander appeared to be trying to counter popular Republican criticism of the White House for writing open-ended checks to Ukraine. Republican Mike Garcia stressed that it is important for American taxpayers that Ukraine itself buys weapons. Wallander replied that Kiev “doesn’t have such a scale of opportunity” now, but called the very idea a good one, trying to show that the US administration was ready to listen to opposition criticism in order to settle any disputes when allocating new amounts. to Ukraine. According to Wallander, the money allocated by Congress to Ukraine will last approximately until the end of the current fiscal year (ends in September 2023).
As for the M1 Abrams tanks promised to Ukraine, as Wallander said, the Pentagon currently does not have any combat vehicles that can be sent to the armed forces. They are ordered by the manufacturer, and their delivery to Kiev can take up to a year and a half.Colin Cole, the Pentagon’s deputy chief for political affairs, speaking before another committee, argued that the United States, when making decisions about supplying new weapons to Ukraine, has all but stopped take into account the considerations that certain types of armies equipment can lead to an escalation of the conflict.Asked how many more aid packages Ukraine might need, Kol said it depended on the dynamics of the conflict, which he said “could end in six months, maybe two or two months.” three years”.