the White House today slapped Russia with sanctions on more than 500 targets tied to both the ongoing war and longtime opposition leader Alexi Nani's death President Biden also blasted Republican members of Congress for taking a two-week break amid stalled negotiations over passing an aid package for Ukraine house Speaker Mike Johnson has reportedly resisted calls to bring the senate pass funding bill up for a vote the push for the money comes at a critical point in the con lict with political tensions running high and lives hanging in the balance for more on when we might see an end to this war I'm joined by Alain Sanders professor ameritus of political science at St Peters University Professor Sanders thanks so much for joining me uh obviously this war is ongoing will this year though decide what the outcome will look like and when it might happen well I'm afraid not uh unfortunately what's happening is we're reaching a stalemate in the war it's a long slog and uh it's unclear who is going to get the initiative as the year goes on uh what's important of course is for both parties uh to be militarily prepared so Russia of course has huge resources that it can use uh for Ukraine they rely mightily on European support and most of all on United States support and right now the United States is in the midst of a political campaign and it's messing up uh the possibility of passing uh legislation that would provide Aid to Ukraine so it's a long slog um it's got to go through our own political process uh and it's unclear exactly what will happen in the months uh going forward how significant is that aid from the US um and Western countries as a whole but but specifically from the US in the grand scheme of this war for Ukraine well it's extraordinarily important Ukraine doesn't have the resources to produce all the weapons it need needs to fight a war such as it is facing um on its own territory the ukrainians are anxious as to whether they're actually going to get the support and the Europeans are thinking about what they could do on their own if the United States did not come through it's some $60 billion dollars that Aid package it's a lot of money how much is the conflict in the Middle East um also adding into what has become gridlock in Washington over the total package well it's part of the package um I think if you pulled all the members uh in the US House of Representatives I think you would find a majority in support of Ukraine in support of Israel and in support of Taiwan which is also part of the package but the problem is that the Republicans have U decided to uh combine these uh countries a package with what they want to be border security but they've been rather disunited on what exactly they want as part of border security and because they've been disunited and dysfunctional on that aspect of the package uh nothing has gotten accomplished and so really it's domestic political considerations that are getting in the way not so much International considerations There's real concern and we heard it from ukrainians who were in New Jersey that this war is almost becoming like white noise to folks because it has gone on now for so long there are other conflicts that have almost been moved to the the front burner is that a valid concern and will that hurt the chances of the US aiding Ukraine in more tangible ways well it's a valid concern uh Vladimir Putin has long believed uh that uh us resolve and Western resolve would fade over the long term that there wouldn't be the willpower to stay and to support Ukraine over uh many months and many years um I think the resolve is there uh but nonetheless it's true that there is flagging public support and there is flagging international support as well for Ukraine so it's a real concern uh in this age of instant media reporting uh people want immediate results but the reality is that when you're dealing with war or when you're dealing with diplomacy it takes time for things to happen and for things to evolve and for results up to occur the public um interest in Ukraine has faded but it doesn't necessarily mean that the political will the underlying political wheel is not there Professor Alain Sanders always good to get your perspective thank you so much my pleasure take care