After months of delay amid a worsening strategic situation, the long-awaited U.S. military aid is on its way to Kyiv.

To survive, Ukraine must use that aid wisely.

By a vote of 311 to 112, the House of Representatives passed a $95 billion aid bill containing $61 billion for Ukraine. The Senate passed it by a vote of 79 to 18, and President Biden signed it into law.

While this assistance will enable the Ukrainians to halt the Russian advance and perhaps reverse some of its recent gains, it will not enable them to recapture vast tracks of the east and south occupied in 2022.

Last summer, the Ukrainian military squandered much of its resources and many of its soldiers in a fruitless offensive.

The Russian army, which proved incapable of sustaining deep advances into Ukraine in 2022, has proven more adept at defensive warfare.

Dug in behind fortified lines several miles deep, protected by minefields backed by artillery and supported by helicopters, it inflicted heavy losses on the attackers.

The first few weeks of the much-anticipated offensive saw 20 percent of Ukraine’s equipment destroyed or damaged. One mechanized brigade trained by the West lost 28 of its 99 Bradley fighting vehicles to damage, abandonment or destruction.

Unable to sustain such losses, the Ukrainians scaled back the offensive and settled for modest, local gains.

By the time the offensive ended in late fall, Ukrainian forces had lost thousands of soldiers and billions of dollars in equipment to liberate approximately 200 square miles.

© The Hill