EGN NEWS DESK
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden mentioned Monday that the United States will ship practically $2.5 billion extra in weapons to Ukraine as his administration works shortly to spend all the cash it has accessible to assist Kyiv battle off Russia earlier than President-elect Donald Trump takes workplace.
The package deal contains $1.25 billion in presidential drawdown authority, which permits the navy to tug current inventory from its cabinets and will get weapons to the battlefield sooner. It additionally has $1.22 billion in longer-term weapons packages to be placed on contract by way of the separate Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, or USAI.
Biden mentioned all longer-term USAI funds have now been spent and pledged to use all of the remaining drawdown cash earlier than leaving workplace.
“I’ve directed my administration to proceed surging as a lot help to Ukraine as shortly as doable,” Biden mentioned in an announcement. “At my path, the United States will proceed to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s place on this warfare over the rest of my time in workplace.”
In addition to the weapons assist, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen introduced Monday that the U.S. can also be offering $3.4 billion in financial help to Ukraine to assist pay for important authorities providers throughout its ongoing battle towards Russia. The cash pays salaries for civilian authorities and college workers, healthcare staff and first responders.
The new navy comes as Russia has launched a barrage of assaults towards Ukraine’s energy amenities in current days, though Ukraine has mentioned it intercepted a major variety of the missiles and drones. Russian and Ukrainian forces are additionally nonetheless in a bitter battle across the Russian border area of Kursk, the place Moscow has despatched 1000’s of North Korean troops to assist reclaim territory taken by Ukraine.
The Biden administration is pushing to get weapons into Ukraine to offer Kyiv the strongest negotiating place doable earlier than Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump has talked about getting some kind of negotiated settlement between Ukraine and Russia and has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Read More: Inside Ukraine’s Effort to Win Over Donald Trump
Many U.S. and European leaders are involved that Trump’s discuss of a settlement would possibly lead to a poor deal for Ukraine, and so they fear that he gained’t present Ukraine with all of the weapons funding accredited by Congress.
The weapons programs being pulled from current stockpiles by way of this newest weapons package deal embrace counter-unmanned aerial programs munitions, air protection munitions, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, air-to-ground munitions, anti-armor programs, tube-launched missiles, fragmentation grenades, and different gadgets and spare components.
Including Monday’s announcement, the U.S. has offered greater than $65 billion in safety help to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
