US President Biden announces $2.5 billion military aid package for Ukraine russia-ukraine war news
US President Joe Biden’s administration has pledged more than $65 billion in support following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
United States President Joe Biden has announced that his administration will send approximately $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine as the president ramps up aid to the war-torn country before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
The new round of aid announced Monday includes $1.25 billion from presidential drawdown authority, which allows Biden to withdraw material from US military supplies without requiring congressional approval.
The other $1.22 billion comes from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a program run through the Department of Defense and funded by congressional appropriations.
In addition to military aid, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also unveiled $3.4 billion in economic aid on Monday to help Ukraine’s government and boost its infrastructure.
“I have directed my administration to continue providing assistance to Ukraine as quickly as possible,” Biden said in a statement. “At my direction, the United States will continue to work to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war throughout my remaining time in office.”
From February 2022, Ukraine has sought to ward off a full-scale invasion by Russia. But in the years since the war began, Republicans have become increasingly divided over future aid to the country.
That aid may face its biggest test yet in the new year. The Republican Party is set to capture both houses of Congress and the White House in January.
While Biden, a Democrat, has been a firm supporter of continued U.S. aid to Ukraine, President-elect Trump has signaled skepticism about further aid and expressed a desire to end the war quickly. He campaigned on an “America First” policy platform.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Biden on Monday for the latest US aid package, which comes at a critical time for his country.
Ukraine is facing a shortage of manpower and a strain on national morale after almost three years of fighting. Russian forces are also advancing in eastern Ukraine: for example, on Sunday Russia claimed to have captured the village of Novotroitske.
The US Defense Department says the Biden administration has committed more than $65 billion in support since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
As part of that amount, Biden has provided 23 aid packages from the USAI fund. Monday’s announcement also marks the 73rd “tranche of equipment” taken from the Defense Department’s stockpile beginning in August 2021.
“Every act of solidarity from our partners saves lives, strengthens our freedom, and strengthens our resilience. It also shows that democracies are stronger than autocratic aggressors,” Zelensky said in a post on the social media site X.
According to the Defense Department, Monday’s arms package will include drones, guided missiles, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), antitank weapon systems, air-to-ground weapons and spare parts.
Support for such assistance remains high. A November survey by the Pew Research Center found that 25 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is sending the right amount of aid to Ukraine, and 18 percent say it is not sending enough.
In contrast, 27 percent of survey respondents indicated that too much aid was being sent to Ukraine.
When taken separately, this number increased among people associated with the Republican Party. An estimated 42 percent of Republicans told the Pew Center that the US is sending too much aid. Only 19 percent indicated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a threat to the United States.
