The Biden administration on Saturday announced a $988 million aid package for Ukraine aimed at “ensuring the country has the tools it needs to win the fight against Russian aggression.”
“This administration has made its choice, and so has the bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its choice,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Saturday at the Reagan Defense Forum in California. said. “But I am confident that from this library, from this podium, President Reagan would have stood on the side of Ukraine, American security, and human freedom.”
The aid package, provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, “will provide Ukraine with weapons for rocket systems and unmanned aircraft systems,” a release from the administration said. “The package also includes support for maintenance and repair programs to help Ukraine reconstitute its military and build and maintain combat power.”
The announcement came as President-elect Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday at a ceremony to mark the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which suffered a devastating fire in 2019.
Zelenskiy worries that it will be dangerous if Ukraine loses its unity 1,000 days after the start of the war, and that it will be defeated if the US cuts funding
During the campaign, President Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, harshly criticized the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022, with Trump offering no further details and calling for an end to the war before taking office. said.
Vance suggested earlier this year that the best way to end the war was for Ukraine to cede land occupied by Russia and establish a demilitarized zone, a suggestion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy flatly rejected. I refused.
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President Zelensky recently said he was more open to war negotiations and called for Ukraine to be allowed into NATO.
The Biden administration has pledged to provide as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump takes office in January.
“In September, the president announced a surge in security assistance to Ukraine to put the Ukrainian military in the strongest possible position before he leaves office,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement Monday. He announced $725 million in aid to Ukraine.
“Between now and mid-January, we will provide hundreds of thousands of additional artillery shells, thousands of rockets, and other critical capabilities to protect Ukraine’s freedom and independence.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that “President Biden has committed to ensuring that we spend every dollar at our disposal between now and January 20th.”
Saturday’s announcement marks the administration’s 22nd aid package through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
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This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected the administration’s request for Congress to approve $24 billion in additional funding.
“It’s not Joe Biden’s place to make that decision now,” Johnson said. “We have a newly elected president and we are going to wait it out and follow the instructions of the new commander-in-chief in everything. So we do not expect the funds for Ukraine to come in right now. do not have.”