US intelligence chiefs are warning that failing to stop Vladimir Putin in Ukraine would risk fuelling China’s ambitions to seize Taiwan.
They urgently pressed members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday to approve additional military assistance for Ukraine.
They stressed that it would not only boost Kyiv’s fight against Putin’s invasion but also discourage aggression by Beijing.
On new military support for Ukraine, CIA Director Williams Burns told the House of Representatives’ Intelligence committee: “That has consequences for American interests that go ... directly to our interests in the Indo-Pacific.”
If Putin was allowed to win, he added: “That kind of an outcome will stoke the ambitions of the Chinese leadership, and they're going to undermine the faith that our partners and allies in the Indo Pacific have in our reliability."
The spy chiefs were giving evidence to the intelligence committee’s annual hearing on Worldwide Threats to US security.
Representative Mike Turner, chairman of the committee, noted that some members of Congress support aid to Ukraine but "mistakenly" contend that Kyiv can afford a delay.
Mr Burns agreed, saying, "I can already see the Ukrainian military rationing ammunition, you can already see them becoming more vulnerable to Russian attacks from the air, from drones, from missiles, from aircraft.”
Meanwhile, officials in Washington said the US is preparing a new military aid package for Ukraine that could be worth as much as $400 million (£313 million).
It would be the first such move in months as additional funds for Kyiv remain blocked by Republican leaders in Congress.
The officials said an announcement was expected later on Tuesday.
One of the officials said that the funding for this package is from credits refunded to the Pentagon for recent purchases.
Joe Biden has backed military aid to Ukraine since Putin’s failed full-scale invasion in 2022 which has now entered its third year, with Russian forces having been pushed back to the east of the country.
In recent weeks, they have been grinding forward, seizing a limited amount of territory, but suffering heavy losses.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that his forces had recently stopped the Russian localised offensives.
Mr Biden’s likely Republican opponent in the November 5 US election, former president Donald Trump, has a more isolationist stance.
The House is under pressure to pass a $95 billion (£74 billion) national security package that bolsters aid for Ukraine, Israel as well as the Indo-Pacific.
That legislation cleared the Senate on a 70-29 vote, but Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has resisted putting up the aid bill for a vote in the House.
Ukraine has warned that as the West stalls on providing more military support, more of its soldiers are dying, and it risks allowing Russia to increasingly gain the upper hand.
Britain, which has led the West in arming Ukraine - first with anti-tank weapons, then Challenger II tanks, and long range Storm Shadow missiles - is urging allies to do more to back Kyiv.
The UK has also trained thousands of Ukrainian soldiers to prepare them for the frontline.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing pressure at home and abroad to supply Ukraine with Taurus long range missiles but has so far resisted doing so.
Berlin has been slow to agree to increase military support but has done so, with Leopard II tanks, and is now a major donor to Ukraine’s war effort.
