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• We asked three interior designers to share items and trends they hate to see in a living room.
• The designers said that fake plants and frilly, heavy drapes are outdated and need to go.
• They also said too many throw pillows and stacks of magazines could make a space feel cluttered.

A living room should be a relaxing place to hang out, but sometimes it can become cluttered and crowded. Fortunately, there are things you can get rid of to free up some space and make your room feel more inviting.

Here are some things you should avoid having in your living room, according to interior designers.

Clear out any clutter from the living room.

If there's one room in the house that should be clutter-free, it's the living room, according to Julie Assenberg, a designer and owner of Julie Assenberg Interior Design.

That way, you have at least one place you can escape to and entertain unexpected guests, she said.

For example, try to find designated spaces for your shoes, coats, gloves, toys, and backpacks rather than dropping them in your living area.

Replace oversized furniture with smaller pieces.

Big, bulky furniture is a thing of the past, according to Rachel Street, a designer and host of the show "Philly Revival" on the DIY Network.

In any home — especially smaller ones — heavy, stately furniture can make a space feel dated and crowded, she said.

Instead of that oversized plush sofa or heavy cherrywood table, opt for smaller, more proportional furniture with clean lines, Street said.

Do away with fake flowers and plants.

It's time to get rid of fake flowers and plants, Assenberg said.

"Plastic plants are tacky, and some might say that rather than bringing the energy of life into your home, they bring an intention to deceive," she told Business Insider. 

If you can't handle real flowers and plants, either because you don't have a green thumb or your room doesn't get enough natural light, then just go without, Assenberg said.

Too many throw pillows can make your living room feel cluttered.

"Decorative throw pillows can make a space look beautiful, but if there are too many, it's only going to bring the design of the room down and make the space feel cluttered," Street told BI.

She recommended opting for just a few pillows for comfort — try to choose ones with machine-washable covers so you can keep them looking great.

Consider swapping out mass-produced art for more original designs.

Assenberg said that when possible you should swap out cheaper, mass-produced artwork for original pieces.

"If you can't afford original art in your entire home, at least invest in one good piece for your living room," Assenberg told BI. "Original art has character and soul."

Mass-produced photos and canvas prints should be moved to the basement, a kid's bedroom, or the bathroom, but not the living room, Assenberg said.

Beanbags can take up too much space.

Having a beanbag in your living room isn't wise, according to Amira Johnson, an interior designer at Emerald Doors.

They take up a lot of space, are difficult to fit around other furniture, and soon look tired, Johnson said. Plus, if you've ever owned one that's sprung a leak, you know how difficult it is to clean up the big mess of stuffing, she added.

Stick with structured, square-shaped furniture in living rooms, she told Insider, and leave the beanbags for a child's bedroom or a playroom.

Replace your massive DVD and CD collections with digital versions of your favorite content.

Years ago, having a fully stocked CD tower was a source of pride for families, but now it could just be a seldom-used stack of clutter.

Street said now is a great time to upgrade your favorite pieces of content and go digital, especially since it could mean having less clutter in your home.

Convert CDs to digital versions and donate the physical copies — along with any outdated electronics, like old VHS tapes and DVDs — to reclaim your shelf space.

Stacks of magazines and catalogs are just causing clutter, no matter how stylishly they're stored.

"We are all guilty of throwing those catalogs and magazines on the coffee table just in case we get the time to flip through them. But the reality is the pile builds up and we never really get around to looking at them," Street told BI.

Toss all those old magazines in the recycling bin and reclaim that space, she said. By removing them, you will instantly take a weight off of your living room.

Frilly draped curtains are relics of the past.

Frilly, thick curtains draped over giant rods are a thing of the past and could make a home look dated, Street said.

There's also the issue that oversized curtains block light from entering the room, and natural light is a game changer if you want your space to feel bigger and more modern, she added.

"If the rest of the room is kept simple, you can opt for a more dramatic curtain, but stick to neutral colors, patterns, and clean lines," Street told BI.

Limit knickknacks to a few of your favorites.

Although souvenirs and mementos are special, they can clutter your living room when you display them all, Johnson said.

The solution is to pick a few of your favorites and store the rest away, Johnson suggested. Then every few months, rotate those out for some of your other favorites.

In doing so, you can keep your collection looking fresh and uncluttered.

Not all vintage items are worth keeping, especially if they look worn or you don't like them that much.

Of course, there are some hand-me-downs and well-loved antiques worth keeping, Assenberg said. But if you don't like something or it is simply worn out, it's time to move on.

"Buy new, or recover those threadbare items as the budget allows, giving them a whole new life," she told BI.

This story was originally published on April 21, 2020, and most recently updated on April 19, 2024.

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• Ukraine claims to have shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber in war first.
• The aircraft was hit in Russia's Stavropol region.
• The bomber was on its way to attack Ukraine, said the air forces.

Ukraine has shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv's military intelligence said.

In a statement released early Friday, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (GUR) said it had taken out one of the strategic long-range bombers that had "launched a missile attack against Ukraine on the night of April 19."

The operation was coordinated with Ukraine's Air Force. The aircraft that Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia has frequently used to bomb was hit inside southern Russia around 200 miles from Ukraine.

"For the first time, the anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force, in cooperation with Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, destroyed a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber — the carrier of Kh-22 cruise missiles, which the Russian terrorists use to attack peaceful Ukrainian cities," Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a statement.

The Tu-22M3 is designed to attack ground and sea targets with guided missiles and bombs. The NATO codename for it is Backfire.

In a video circulating across social media, what appears to be a burning Tu-22M3 can be seen falling from the sky before it hits the ground.

Business Insider could not independently verify when or where the footage was filmed.

It would be the first time Ukraine has managed to destroy a Russian strategic bomber since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

Before the GUR's statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that a Tu-22M3 aircraft had crashed in a "deserted area" due to a "technical malfunction," according to Russian state media.

According to Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov, the plane came down in the region's Krasnogvardeysky District. Vladimirov claimed two pilots had successfully ejected from the aircraft. A third pilot was killed and a fourth is currently missing.

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson Andrii Yusov told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that a second Russian aircraft had been forced to turn back to base after the first one was shot down.

"It means that another series of missiles were not launched at Ukraine," Yusov said.

The Tu-22M3 has been a key target for Ukrainian air defense. Russian forces use Tu-22M3, often armed with AS-4 heavy anti-ship or Kh-22 cruise missiles, in airstrikes against Ukraine. In 2022, Russia used the Tu-22M3 to pummel the besieged city of Mariupol, per The National Interest.

In August last year, Ukraine's chief spy, Kyrylo Budanov, said intelligence estimates put Russia's Tu-22M3 fleet at 27 operable aircraft.

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• A Titan Airways flight had to do a U-turn due to missing and damaged windows.
• The Airbus plane had previously been used by King Charles, Queen Camilla, and other UK officials.
• High-intensity lights during a commercial shoot caused the window damage.

A plane used by VIPs like King Charles and Queen Camilla had to make an emergency landing after three windowpanes fell out mid-flight.

The Titan Airways flight traveling from London to Orlando in October had to U-turn after departing when a crew member noticed one of the windowpanes was loose.

Passengers had also noticed the plane was noisier and colder than usual, according to the Telegraph.

But the full extent of the damage wasn't known until the plane landed: Three of the windowpanes panes had fallen off, and impact damage was noticeable on the tail, according to a new report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).

Two of the windowpanes were completely removed, while the third window was missing the inner pane and a rubber seal, and a fourth window was damaged, the report said.

There were nine passengers and 11 crew on board. None of them reported injuries.

The aircraft was originally used by the British government. It was later sold to Titan Airways, which describes itself as a charter airline specializing in VIP and corporate travel.

The Telegraph reported that Charles and Camilla had traveled in the same aircraft during their visit to France in September.

It had also been used by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly, the UK's Foreign Secretary, the outlet said.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider.

The AAIB report identified the cause of the damage: The windows had been exposed to high-intensity lights when the aircraft was used to film a commercial at London's Stansted Airport the day before.

The lights, used to convey a sunrise, had been aimed at the windows for several hours at a time, the report said. They had a combined capacity of 72,000 watts, which is more than seven hundred times more powerful than a standard light bulb, The Telegraph reported.

There was no suggestion in the AAIB report that manufacturing issues contributed to the damage.

Although the aircraft lost windowpanes, that doesn't mean wind was shooting through the cabin, according to the report.

"All the scratch panes remained in place so there was no direct, unrestricted aperture between the passenger cabin and the outside air," it said, noting the amount of leaking air was not enough to trigger a pressurization problem.

Speaking to Business Insider, a Titan Airways spokesperson said, "the aviation industry as a whole will benefit from the lessons learnt from this event."

"We are also pleased to hear that our colleagues at Airbus will be circulating further information to its worldwide customer base, highlighting the potential damage that can be caused by high-intensity lighting," they said.

Airbus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is not the first time an aircraft has sustained damage from strong lighting on a film set.

At least one other Airbus and three Boeing planes had previously reported damaged windows during respective filming events, the report said, adding that knowledge of these incidents previously wasn't widespread.

Damage to one of the Boeing planes was significant. A hole burned through one of the windows while five other windows were deformed after 2,000W lights were used, the report said.

In March 2020, Boeing released a statement advising against the use of high-intensity lights, the report added. If high-intensity lights were used, it suggested keeping use to a minimum and away from windows.

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• S&P Global cut its rating for Israel on Thursday as tensions in the Middle East escalate.
• Israel's economy may suffer if there's a broad and drawn-out conflict, S&P said.
• Moody's, another ratings agency, downgraded Israel for the first time in February.

S&P Global downgraded Israel on Thursday, warning that escalating tensions in the Middle East could affect its ability to repay debt.

The ratings agency cut Israel's sovereign credit score from "AA-" to "A+" while maintaining a negative overall outlook.

"The recent increase in confrontation with Iran heightens already elevated geopolitical risks for Israel. We expect a wider regional conflict will be avoided, but the Israel-Hamas war and the confrontation with Hezbollah appear set to continue throughout 2024," it said in a statement.

S&P forecast that Israel's overall deficit will rise from about 4% to 8% by the end of this year, mostly due to higher defense spending. It projected that net general government debt is likely to peak at 66% in 2026, and any broadening of the conflict in the Middle East could take an even bigger toll on the country's economy.

"A wider regional conflict, which is not our baseline scenario, could have a further material negative impact on Israel's security situation and, consequently, its economic, fiscal, and balance-of-payments parameters," S&P said.

The downgrade — which puts Israel's credit rating on the same level as countries including China, Bermuda and Kuwait — came as senior US officials told multiple outlets that Israel had struck Iran overnight. Tel-Aviv is yet to claim formal responsibility for the attack.

Another major credit ratings agency, Moody's, downgraded Israel for the first time in February, citing the impact that the ongoing war in Gaza could have on the country's finances.

The Israeli shekel fell 0.2% against the US dollar on Friday as markets digested both the downgrade and the reported strike on Iran, according to data from Refinitiv.

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• A Florida man received a $143,000 phone bill from T-Mobile after an overseas trip to Switzerland.
• The charges were due to his phone not being set for international roaming, according to ABC Action News.
• After legal intervention and media coverage, T-Mobile agreed to credit the entire amount.

A Florida man returned from a trip to Switzerland with his wife last September to discover he was facing an unexpectedly massive phone bill, Tampa's ABC Action News reported.

Rene Remund said that after returning home he received his bill from T-Mobile. He initially thought he was being charged $143 for sending photos and texts to family and friends from the Alps, according to the local news outlet.

But the actual charge was much higher — around $143,000 for 9.5 gigabytes of data used overseas.

According to Forbes, the average annual salary in Florida is $55,980, making the bill more than twice what an average worker makes each year in the state.

Remund had incurred thousands of dollars in daily roaming charges because his phone was not set up for international roaming, the report said.

Most US customers' domestic plans do not cover usage abroad, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

Remund said he contacted T-Mobile, which confirmed the bill was indeed what he owed, per ABC Action News.

T-Mobile and Remund did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Remund enlisted an attorney, who wrote letters to T-Mobile's president hoping for a response, the local outlet reported. The attorney also contacted ABC Action News, which subsequently contacted T-Mobiles's corporate office.

The local news outlet reported that the carrier ultimately agreed to credit Remund's account for the entire month.

In a statement to ABC Action News, T-Mobile advised customers who may be on older plans to check to see if international roaming and data are included.

Remund reportedly said he always notifies T-Mobile before leaving the US for vacations, and this time visited a T-Mobile store to notify them of his travels.

He also told the news outlet that it was a huge relief to no longer be on the hook for the six-figure bill.

The amount of data Remund used isn't considered excessive. According to telecommunication company Ericsson, the North American monthly average data usage per smartphone was an estimated 25.9 gigabytes in 2023.

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• Swastika Chandra had her Uber account banned because of her name.
• Uber eventually apologized to the Australian woman and reinstated her account.
• Chandra said she's proud of her Hindu identity and her name and wouldn't change it for anyone.  

An Australian woman was banned from using Uber after the company deemed her first name to be offensive.

Swastika Chandra tried to order food from Uber Eats last year, but when she typed in her name, a pop-up told her it violated the company's terms and she'd have change it, she told A Current Affair.

Uber's guidelines restrict names that contain potentially offensive words.

Swastika comes from a Sanskrit word meaning good fortune or well-being. It's a symbol that has been relevant to many religions across Asia, like Jainism and Buddhism, long before it was co-opted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and became associated with antisemitism.

"They don't know that the Hindus used it for thousands of years before Hitler used it in the wrong way," Chandra said. Her name was common in Fiji, where she grew up, and which has a large Indian population.

"I'm very proud of my name. I believe in the good that comes with it and I'm not changing it for anyone," she told ACA.

Five months later, Uber reinstated her account and apologized to Chandra. However, it took interventions by the Hindu Council of Australia and the New South Wales attorney-general, according to ACA.

"We have apologised to Ms Chandra for the inconvenience this caused her, and we appreciate her patience as we reviewed the matter, which took longer than we hoped it would," Uber told the program.

Uber is no stranger to these types of moderation issues. In 2021, it deactivated a number of accounts of transgender drivers over what it deemed to be fraudulent profile pictures taken after the drivers had transitioned.

The company also faced backlash last year after the owner of a Palestinian restaurant in Toronto said Uber Eats had suddenly labeled his restaurant as Israeli. Uber Eats previously told Business Insider that the "unintentional" issue had been fixed.

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• Mortgage holders are shelling out a record $2,800 on average to cover their monthly payments.
• Mortgage costs have soared due to rising house prices and soaring interest rates.
• Mortgage rates are at a five-month high after stubborn inflation dashed hopes for rate cuts soon.

The average home owner is now forking out a record $2,800 just to cover their monthly payment, as soaring house prices and surging interest rates have made it costlier than ever to own a home.

The median monthly mortgage payment has jumped 11% over the past year to hit $2,775 for the four weeks ended April 14, Redfin data shows.

That's an astounding 58% of the median pre-tax monthly income for full-time US workers of $4,773 in March — calculated by taking the government's latest weekly earnings figure and multiplying it by four.

Rising rates are largely responsible for the sharp increase in mortgage payments. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate spiked to a five-month high of 7.4% this week, per Mortgage News Daily. The upshot is that anyone taking out a mortgage to buy a home is paying a lot more every month than in the past.

The median sale price for homes has also jumped 5% in the past year to $380,250 — only about $3,100 short of the record high in June 2022, per Redfin. People are probably borrowing more to afford increasingly pricey homes, meaning they have to pay more each month.

The painful rise in mortgage costs is just one headache for households. Inflation spiked to a 40-year high of over 9% in the summer of 2022 and was still running at 3.5% in March, well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. That speaks to the rising cost of food, energy, rent, and other goods and services for consumers.

The Fed's response to surging prices has been to hike its benchmark interest rate from virtually zero to more than 5%. That has driven 30-year mortgage rates from about 3% at the start of 2022 to more than 7%, which has caused monthly mortgage payments to spike.

The rate hikes have also raised monthly payments for car loans, credit cards, and other types of debt. The result is that consumers face a double-whammy of painful price increases and steeper monthly interest payments.

Mortgage rates did ease earlier this year, but have rebounded as stubborn inflation has spurred the Fed to push back rate cuts.

The steep rise in mortgage rates has also frozen the US housing market, as prospective sellers are loath to give up lower rates they've locked in by listing their homes, and potential buyers are balking at near-record prices and chunkier monthly mortgage payments.

The affordability crisis contributed to sales of existing homes dropping 4.3% between February and March, the biggest percentage decline since November 2022.

The bleak picture has led some experts to predict a buying boom once rates fall. "Shark Tank" investor Barbara Corcoran has declared that house prices will "go through the roof" if rates drop by just a single percentage point, while investor Bill Pulte recently suggested they could spike 20% to a record $500,000 if the Fed cuts too soon.

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• Someone bought a domain name similar to Meghan Markle's latest venture, American Riviera Orchard.
• They then directed it to a donation page for a charity, which had the message: "hope meghan wouldn't mind."
• This isn't the first time the Sussexes have had to deal with cybersquatters.

The Duchess of Sussex appears to have forgotten the golden rule of buying domain names: buy all the domain names.

The same day that Meghan Markle launched the site American Riviera Orchard last month, another domain was registered — americanrivieraorchard.uk — which does not direct traffic to her page.

As of Friday, the mysterious site had a simple message on it: "Forgiveness. Permission. Please donate to the Trussell Trust."

It then linked to a JustGiving page purportedly in support of a well-known UK food bank charity.

The JustGiving page has the message: "not meghan. hope meghan wouldn't mind."

It adds: "thoughts with catherine. x" — a likely reference to Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, who announced on March 22 that she was undergoing treatment for cancer.

The maker of the page, who did not leave contact information, was unreachable for comment.

At the time of publication, the fundraiser had attracted more than £8,300, over $10,000, far exceeding its £1,000 target.

The Sussexes did not immediately respond to a BI request for comment, sent outside of US working hours.

Donors to the food bank used the comment section to pass on remarks about Meghan and Prince Harry.

"A worthy cause that the Sussexes would no doubt approve of," one donor wrote.

Another was a little more pointed: "Fantastic — No one needs 200 pound jars of jam — this is a brilliant cause and thankyou for diverting the uk website to real people not shallow lifestyle gurus."

It's unclear what Markle plans to do with the American Riviera Orchard brand, but an associated trademark application says the brand intends to sell tableware, cookbooks, jams, and spreads.

The Trussell Trust, meanwhile, is the UK's leading food bank charity, supporting a network of 1,200 food banks across the country.

In a statement sent to BI, the charity's director of public engagement, Sophie Carre, said: "The charity is not connected with this website domain and have no knowledge of who set it up."

But she said that the trust would accept any donations that ensue, saying that "the money raised would not meet the requirements for rejection."

The Sussexes appear not to have learned lessons from previous cybersquatting efforts.

In 2020, their Archewell Foundation was targetted, with the domain archewellfoundation.com briefly directing visitors to a YouTube video of Kanye West's, or Ye's, song "Gold Digger." (The actual foundation URL is archewell.org.)

Ending a domain with just ".uk," as in this latest case, is not common even in the UK — where domain names typically end with ".co.uk," or ".org.uk."

But when you're part of the UK's most famous family, you should probably cover all of your bases.

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• An Israeli strike hit Isfahan in Iran, multiple outlets said, citing unnamed senior US officials.
• It came after Iran fired drones and missiles at Israel in its first-ever direct attack.
• The nature of Israel's response suggests it wants to limit the conflict, say analysts.

The relatively restrained nature of an apparent Israeli attack on Iran suggests that both sides are seeking to step back from the brink of a regional war, according to experts.

Several explosions caused by an Israeli attack were heard in the central province of Isfahan on Friday, unnamed senior US officials told multiple outlets.

The exact nature of the strike, which hit key military targets, is unclear, they said. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that none of Iran's nuclear sites in the region were damaged.

Initial reports from Iranian officials suggest that Israel may have used small drones or quadcopters for the attack on Friday. However, US sources told CBS News that Israel used missiles.

"If the extent of Israel's retaliation is a small drone (quadcopter) attack inside Iran, the current escalation might be contained within the boundaries of the pre-7th Oct status quo," Andreas Krieg, an expert on the Middle East at King's College London, wrote on X.

It comes after more than 300 Iranian drones and missiles were fired at Israel on Saturday. That was itself a response to an Israeli strike on Iran's consulate in Damascus.

Iran warned for weeks that the attack was coming — giving Israel's allies time to prepare — and avoided targeting civilian locations.

"I would actually think that we will be surprised and that things may very well wind down," Charles Miller, a security expert at Australian National University told The Washington Post.

"It seems that actually both sides want to be seen to be doing something without actually undertaking the risks of doing anything that's too provocative."

The terrorist attacks by Iran-ally Hamas on Israel on October 7 sparked the latest conflict in the Middle East, with Israel responding by launching an attack on Gaza and Iranian proxies in the region.

Krieg pointed to the fact that Iran's media had downplayed the attack, "suggesting they won't have to respond."

Iranian state media outlet Press TV posted footage of what it described as "a tranquil atmosphere in the Iranian city of Isfahan, with residents going about their usual routines, despite the recent explosions heard near the city."

Analysts on Israeli TV echoed that assessment.

"Israel can do elegant military maneuvers that are not noisy or cause significant military damage but which deliver the message Israel wants," Dana Weiss, a diplomatic affairs analyst for Israel's Channel 12, said, reported The New York Times. "And that is what we have seen them do."

If the use of drones is confirmed, it wouldn't be the first time Israel has targeted Iran using UAVs. In January 2023, Israel was accused of attacking a military factory in Isfahan in the same way.

Other analysts said the attacks were apparently designed to signal that Israel could do far more damage to Iran's nuclear program if it wanted.

There remain fears that the conflict between the countries could spiral into a broader regional war. Before Friday's strikes, Israel's Western allies had urged the country's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to be moderate in his response.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had previously warned in a CNN interview that the Iranian response to an Israeli attack would be "immediate and at a maximum level."

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• The House is expected to soon vote on a long-awaited aid package including support for Ukraine and Israel.
• The aid would be life-saving for Ukraine, helping resolve air defense and ammo issues.
• Ukraine's current condition is dire, experts say, and this moment is critical for its future.

Ukraine currently faces a grim outlook. Its forces are lacking sufficient numbers, low on just about everything, fatigued from two years of war, and in some places, barely holding on. Russia, on the other hand, has rebuilt its strength and is launching brash and devastating attacks that could give it further momentum.

It's perhaps the most perilous moment for Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and it could either be fixed or worsened by US lawmakers in Washington DC, some of whom have been holding assistance hostage for months now.

"It's a remarkable situation that the US really has tremendous agency in determining the course of this year," Frederick Kagan, a senior fellow and the director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, explained to Business Insider.

"And it comes down to, really, this package being so critical," he added.

Kagan's assessment is in line with other experts and analysts who have been increasingly sounding the alarms on the importance of US aid to Ukraine. In recent weeks, it seems concerns have spiked, as Ukraine feels the effects of diminished US support.

Many observers of the war agree: Ukraine's fate rests on US support, and the future of that critical assistance rests in the hands of Congress, which is about to put it to an important vote.

Ukraine faces serious problems that this aid package could fix

It's been over six months since a $110 billion foreign aid package, which included roughly $61.4 billion for Ukraine, stalled in Congress. In the following months, Ukraine has urged the US to send more assistance, raising concerns about ammo shortages and Russia going on the advance against an ill-equipped Ukrainian defense.

As debates in Congress on aid continued into this year, Ukraine's situation got progressively worse. Now, potential scenarios that didn't seem likely months ago — such as the collapse of Ukrainian lines — are becoming plausible, Kagan explained.

The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in DC that is focused intently on the conflict, has been documenting recent Russian advances and consistently assessing that depleted US aid is severely hurting Ukraine's ability to defend itself.

Ukraine is currently facing a very bleak situation on the battlefield. The Ukrainians are low on artillery shells needed to keep Russian ground forces at bay, and they also lack sufficient air defenses, both systems and ammunition.

Additionally, manpower shortages are stretching the lines thin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law Tuesday that is aimed at overhauling Ukraine's mobilization rules, effectively making it possible to bring even older troops into a war already being fought by soldiers with an average age over 40.

And while Ukraine's been facing these issues for a months now, it has gotten severely worse — and continues to each day US assistance isn't approved. This aid package, however would provide immediate relief, experts argue.

"It will be life-saving," Mick Ryan, a retired Australian Army major general and strategist, told BI just weeks after visiting Ukraine, calling the planned aid "an enormous shot in the arm," and not just materially, but also for morale.

If the stalled aid package is approved, it remains to seen how the rollout of aid will go. The US will likely pull out all the stops to get the most urgent requirements for the next few months — such as artillery, air defenses, and electronic warfare equipment, for example — to Ukraine as soon as possible. But it has got to get through Congress first.

While US lawmakers have spent months debating Ukraine aid, Russia has been given a golden opportunity. Not only are its forces on the offensive, but it's been given time to reconstitute for future offensive operations. As the Russian war machine fires up, the army is putting pressure on Ukraine's defenses, seeing where it can potentially break through and seize territory.

"Russia is slowly building up its forces for future offensive operations in Ukraine," according to Franz-Stefan Gady, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. It continues, he explained, "to conduct probing attacks, intertwined with larger-scale assaults," to set itself up with certain tactical advantages for operations later this year.

But there is also a clear immediate effect. "The Russian military has been able to steadily press ahead and capture smaller swaths of territory in recent weeks," Gady said. The primary goal at the moment, though, appears to be to deplete Ukrainian forces.

An element of Russia's recent attacks have been air strikes on Ukraine's critical energy and defense infrastructure.

Along with slowly grinding down Ukrainian defenses, "Russia is also conducting a sustained campaign of air and missile strikes against critical infrastructure and other targets in various parts of Ukraine in an attempt to deplete Ukrainian air defenses," likely an attempt to "give Russian airpower more freedom to maneuver to engage Ukrainian targets at the front line in support of larger-scale ground operations later this year," Gady said.

As Ukraine struggles, Russia has achieved certain manpower, industrial, and materiel advantages. The top American general in Europe said last week that Russia has just about "grown back" its military strength to what it was when it invaded, while experts like Ryan have said it is "more dangerous" now than it was then.

"You can't deny that the effectiveness of the Russians has improved since the beginning of the war," Ryan said. There are still weaknesses and vulnerabilities, but ultimately, "two years of war has actually made the Russian military probably a better organization than what it was when it started."

And the longer that the war against Ukraine goes, the more they're going to learn. Experts like Kagan have warned that the Russians will pose a greater threat to NATO if they win this war.

Ukraine is stuck waiting to see how things turn out as it fights to survive

When House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson unveiled the long-awaited foreign aid package earlier this week and announced a vote possibly as soon as this weekend, he was met with expected resistance from some of the usual staunch Republican opposers, who called on Johnson to promote a stronger bill on border security along with the foreign aid assistance.

Such a deal has long been the proposed compromise between Democrats and Republicans. One massive, bipartisan immigration and foreign aid bill notably failed in Senate back in February. A $95 billion bill for security assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, however, passed in the Senate shortly after.

Johnson's planned foreign aid package comes in at a similar cost and includes about $61 billion for Ukraine. More than a third of that would be directed toward replenishing weapons and ammunition for the US military.

Aid to Ukraine is complicated, and the assistance packages have typically included military aid, humanitarian assistance, money for Ukraine's government, and funds for US operations related to assisting Ukraine. In the short term after a package is approved, the US transfers both US weapons and some purchased from allies to Ukraine. It also gets the funds to replenish its stockpiles and buy new weapons from defense contractors.

Both the Pentagon and the White House have long explained to Congress that these aid packages create and fuel defense production jobs across the country.

In the long term, the provided US aid allows Ukraine to purchase weapons which may need to be manufactured and, therefore, take a bit more time to secure.

Complications aside, the packages, like the one in the House, have profound effects. If this assistance passes, Kagan said, there's high confidence "that the Ukrainians would be able to slow and ultimately stop this Russian offensive and then very likely would be able to conduct counteroffensive operations to regain territory" likely next year.

Where US support for Ukraine goes from here

Whether the aid package passes or not, it's quite clear that American lawmakers — and voters — remain divided on the US role in supporting Ukraine.

That conversation "is part of a larger debate about America's place in the world," Ryan said. Those who may not see the need for the US to be involved in the security concerns of other countries, he said, may be short-sighted, overlooking the destructive consequences if Ukraine loses.

And a loss for Ukraine is a very real possibility. CIA Director William Burns said that without aid "there is a very real risk that the Ukrainians could lose on the battlefield by the end of 2024," and even Zelenskyy has acknowledged retreat and a loss could be the outcome without further support. The ramifications of that could be dire.

Experts, officials, and analysts have long warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin is ultimately successful in achieving victory in Ukraine, it could have serious consequences, not only for the people of Ukraine, but for others globally. A win for Russia could embolden it to take further aggressive action and potentially encourage others, like China and North Korea, to throw their weight around, stirring further tensions and conflict.

A victorious Russia could take its war towards NATO, possibly leading to a devastating and large-scale conflict directly involving the US.

"Americans really need to understand that we are standing on a fundamental precipice," Kagan said. Cutting off assistance to Ukraine, which could lead to its loss against Russia, will not only jeopardize American security, he said, but also "actually significantly increase the likelihood that Americans will have to enter wars ourselves."

Kagan wrote something similar earlier this week, noting that "the US thus has only two real choices today. It can quickly resume providing military aid to let Ukraine stabilize the front lines near the current locations. Or it can let the Russians defeat the Ukrainian military and drive toward the NATO borders from the Black Sea to central Poland.  There is no third option."

Johnson himself told reporters something similar earlier this week, saying that, "to put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys."

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