US President Joe Biden on Monday announced $2.5 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine as he uses his final weeks in office to increase military aid to kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“At my direction, the United States will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war for the remainder of my term,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden’s announcement includes $1.25 billion in military aid from US stockpiles and a $1.22 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package, the last USAI package under Biden .
Under USAI, military equipment is acquired from the defense industry or partners, rather than drawn from US stocks, meaning it can take months or years to reach the battlefield.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is approaching three years and the Russians have recently used North Korean troops to reinforce their fighting position.
North Korean forces are experiencing massive casualties on the front lines of Russia’s war against Ukraine, with 1,000 of its soldiers killed or wounded in the last week alone in Russia’s Kursk region, a White House spokesman told reporters on Friday. , John Kirby.
In a statement, Biden said the new assistance will provide Ukraine with “an immediate influx of capabilities that it continues to use to great effect on the battlefield and long-term supplies of air defense, artillery and other critical weapons systems.”
Nearly three years after the war, Washington has committed $175 billion in total aid to Ukraine, but it is unclear whether aid will continue at that pace under Trump, who replaces Biden on Jan. 20.
Trump has said he wants to quickly end the war. During the presidential election campaign, Trump questioned the level of US involvement in the conflict, suggesting that European allies should bear a greater financial burden.
Some of his fellow Republicans, who will control both the House of Representatives and the Senate starting next month, have also stopped sending more aid to kyiv.
Biden said the Defense Department is in the process of delivering hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, thousands of rockets and hundreds of armored vehicles “that will strengthen Ukraine’s position heading into the winter.”
