美国国家公共电台 NPR--Over months, the U.S. and allies delivered weapons and other support to Ukraine

Over months, the U.S. and allies delivered weapons and other support to Ukraine

Transcript¹

The U.S. and NATO are supplying Ukraine with increasingly powerful and sophisticated weapons. Will the West sustain this level of military support as the war grinds on?

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Today marks six months since Vladimir Putin's forces invaded Ukraine with the intention of taking over the entire country. It is also supposed to be a holiday - Ukrainian Independence Day marking 31 years since the country gained its independence from what was then the Soviet² Union. Over the last six months, the U.S. and its allies have delivered weapons and other support to Ukrainian forces. Just this morning, President Biden announced that the U.S. will provide Kyiv with a further $3 billion in military aid. For a look at how that funding commitment has evolved over time, we're joined by NPR's national security correspondent Greg Myre. Greg, how have the kinds of weapons the U.S. has sent to Ukraine changed, especially over the last six months?

GREG MYRE, BYLINE³: Well, it's been pretty dramatic. At the beginning of the war, the U.S. was only sending these small weapons - Javelin⁴ or Stinger missiles that were fired by an individual soldier. And the message really was, we want to help you, but perhaps not all that much because we think the Russians could overrun Ukraine pretty quickly. But since Ukrainians fought back with such fierceness and determination, we've seen increasingly larger weapons, many of them artillery⁵ guns. And now Ukraine has these HIMARS that can fire rockets close to 50 miles and are very precise. Ukraine is now striking far behind the Russian frontlines. So the weapons keep evolving as the war evolves.

MARTIN: Right. But I mean, can the West keep supplying Ukraine at the same level indefinitely?

MYRE: Well, it almost certainly could. I think the real question is whether the U.S. and NATO become weary of an open-ended military commitment, and it may want to look for diplomatic solutions. Now, the U.S. is by far the main weapons supplier, and Congress approved this $40 billion aid package. A little more than half of it is military. And we see the U.S. announcing new tranches every few weeks. At this pace, the U.S. could keep supplying Ukraine, certainly through the end of the year and perhaps into early next year. So the weapons should keep flowing for at least another several months. But the U.S. and Europe will have to decide how long they're willing to sustain this.

MARTIN: Right. And meanwhile, there are other needs, right? I mean, what about humanitarian⁶ aid, money needed to keep the Ukrainian government going, just the overall economy?

MYRE: Right. And that's where the other part of this U.S. package comes in. The U.S. is giving significant financial and humanitarian aid as well, but Ukraine needs an estimated $5 billion a month to keep the government running, keep the economy functioning. And we are going to be seeing a crunch⁷ pretty soon. Millions of Ukrainians are displaced. Fall and winter is coming fast, and that will require even extra help in terms of energy and other services.

MARTIN: So, I mean, we're always looking to how this ends, right? And Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in this speech he gave to mark Independence Day that Ukraine intends to retake the regions that are occupied now by Russia, that any negotiated settlement to end the war cannot allow Russia to hold those areas. Do Ukrainians think that that is realistic?

MYRE: Well, probably some do, and some don't, but I think they would agree with President Zelenskyy. They're always quick to note that Russia invaded in 2014 and has been occupying part of their country for eight years. And they say they just can't concede territory because Russia will simply swallow Ukraine in bites and that they believe that if they concede territory now, it wouldn't end the conflict. It would just put a hold on things, and then Russia would decide to strike again at some future date of its choosing.

MARTIN: NPR's Greg Myre, thank you.

MYRE: My pleasure.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 javelin   

n.标枪，投枪

参考例句：

• She achieved a throw of sixty metres in the javelin event.在掷标枪项目中，她掷了60米远。
• The coach taught us how to launch a javelin.教练教我们投标枪。

5 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。