US announces possible last aid package to Ukraine as Biden supplemental debate drags on
Mike Brest
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The Biden administration announced a $250 million aid package to Ukraine on Wednesday, which will be the final one of the year and possibly much longer.
“The United States is announcing the year’s final package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “Capabilities provided in today’s package include air defense munitions, other air defense system components, additional ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, anti-armor munitions, and over 15 million rounds of ammunition.”
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President Joe Biden requested more than $100 billion in a supplemental funding request back in October, which included more than $60 billion for Ukraine, though Congress has not yet passed it, even as the already allocated funds continued to dwindle. Last week, an administration official told reporters that there would be one more aid package before the end of the year and that without Congress passing the supplemental, it could be the last one altogether.
“We are still planning one more aid package to Ukraine later this month, however when that one’s done … we will have no more replenishment authority,” National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said last week. “We’re going to need Congress to act without delay, as we have been saying.”
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The Biden administration publicly has reiterated its support for Ukraine while stressing to lawmakers the importance U.S. aid has on the European nation’s ability to defend itself against Russian aggression. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Washington earlier this month in an effort to assuage largely Republican concerns over continuing aid to his country.
House Republicans, who as a whole have become more skeptical of continuing to aid Ukraine over the second year of the war, have demanded immigration and border security concessions from Democrats and the White House in exchange for that funding. Congress entered the holiday season without passing the supplemental despite repeated requests from Zelensky and the Biden administration.