WASHINGTON: The US State Department has announced this year’s final package of weapons and equipment for aid to Ukraine, ending the existing funds still available to the Joe Biden administration.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Wednesday that the package includes up to $250 million in weapons and equipment and is being provided “under the first waiver directed at Ukraine.”
Blinken was quoted as saying, “The capabilities provided in today’s package include air defense munitions, other air defense system components, additional ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems, 155 mm and 105 mm artillery ammunition, Anti-armor ammunition and over 15 million rounds of ammunition.” Xinhua news agency said.
Such recently announced aid packages fall under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows weapons to be taken directly from Defense Department stocks so they can be rapidly delivered to Ukraine.
The US has already used funds from another form of aid to Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, appropriated by Congress, which would have enabled the Defense Department to purchase weapons for Kiev by signing contracts with arms manufacturers. Is.
In his statement, Blinken reiterated the urgent need for Congress to complete its work. “It is imperative that Congress act as quickly as possible to advance our national security interests by helping Ukraine defend itself and secure its future,” he said.
Warning that funds previously approved by Congress to provide aid to Ukraine would soon run out, the Biden administration last week said it would meet the White House’s supplemental budget request of more than $60 billion for Ukraine. Absent a new commitment from lawmakers for further appropriations, the administration will be able to announce an additional package for Kyiv before the end of the year.
National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told reporters on December 18, “We are still planning another aid package for Ukraine later this month.”
Kirby said, “However, when that is completed … we will have no replenishment authority available, and we will need Congress to act without delay, as we have been saying.”
On Capitol Hill, Republicans are withholding their votes for new money for Ukraine, giving their nod to Democrats’ agreement to meet GOP demands for stricter border control measures to keep incoming migrants at bay .
The US has pledged more than $44.2 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in February 2022, the Pentagon said in a fact sheet published Wednesday.
