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The Biden Administration's Race to Help Ukraine - and Putin's Response

Might a Biden surge of aid to Ukraine help Donald Trump at the negotiating table?

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden walk to the Oval Office of the White House September 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

DEEP DIVE — The war in Ukraine has veered into volatile new territory, ignited by a final push — in Washington and Kyiv – to alter the battlefield before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

For nearly 1,000 days of war – a milestone reached last week – the pace of policy change in Washington and Brussels was deliberate. Some in Ukraine found it maddeningly glacial. And then, in short order, the White House dropped restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American ATACMS missiles against Russia, ended its opposition to giving Ukraine anti-personnel landmines, and U.S. officials said they would “surge” every penny’s worth of pledged military aid to Ukraine before the Trump team takes over. 

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