President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Dec. 21 that the United States is sending $1.8 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine, including, for the first time, a patriot air defense system.
The announcement came as Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, landed in Washington with plans to appeal to Biden and Congress not to stop giving aid to his country as it battles Russian forces in the 10th month of the war.
Biden approved the $1 billion drawdown of air defense and other military equipment. An additional $800 million in security assistance through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
The drawdown “will provide Ukraine with expanded air defense and precision-strike capabilities, as well as additional munitions and critical equipment that Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself on the battlefield,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a Biden appointee, said in a statement, adding that the help would come as Russia “is trying to weaponize winter by freezing and starving Ukrainian civilians and forcing families from their homes.”
The new aid brings the total U.S. military assistance since the start of the Biden administration to $21.9 billion.
Blinken also said the United States would not stop supporting Ukraine until the war ends.
“The United States will continue to work closely with more than 50 allies and partners worldwide in support of the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and independence with extraordinary courage and boundless determination,” he said. “We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, so that Kyiv can continue to defend itself and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table when the time comes.”
The military aid was approved by Congress earlier in the year. Lawmakers are considering passing an omnibus package that includes $47 billion more in assistance to Ukraine, even as some Republicans complain about the escalating price tag for a war halfway around the world.
“How can we send an additional $47 BILLION to Ukraine for security while terrorists, drugs, and criminals flood our southern border?” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) wrote on Twitter.
“The U.S. shouldn’t send another DIME to Ukraine without a full audit of the aid already sent,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said.
The administration has repeatedly said that the assistance is helping Ukraine fight against Russia, which invaded on orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin in February.
“It’s been simply remarkable to watch how Ukraine, aided by U.S. support and the support of our allies and partners, has bravely defended its country, repelled Russian attacks, and retaken a significant amount of their territory,” a senior administration official told reporters on a call this week.
Zelenskyy Meeting With Biden
Zelenskyy landed in Washington around midday and met with Biden at the White House. Zelenskyy was also going to sit with key members of Biden’s national security team and Cabinet.During the meeting, Biden and Zelenskyy planned to have “an in-depth strategic discussion on the way ahead on the battlefield; on the capabilities and training that the U.S. and our allies will continue to provide to Ukraine; on the sanctions and export controls that we have imposed and will continue to tighten and reinforce that have placed significant costs on Russia’s economy and Russia’s defense industrial base; and on the economic and energy sector assistance as well as the humanitarian assistance we’re providing to make life better for the people of Ukraine,” the official, who spoke on condition they were not identified, told reporters.
Address to Congress
Afterward, Zelenskyy was slated to give a speech to a joint session of Congress as lawmakers consider whether to approve the mammoth $1.7 trillion omnibus package.Zelenskyy was giving the speech at the invitation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who told him in a letter that “America and the world are in awe of the heroism of the Ukrainian people.”
She said that the United States and U.S. allies “have proudly answered your call: imposing devastating sanctions on Putin and ensuring Ukraine has the resources it needs to win this war.”
Top Democrats and some Republicans have already said they support the omnibus, but House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has said that Ukraine should not have a “blank check,” said that Republicans should wait to craft a large spending package until they take control of the lower chamber next month. Republicans flipped a number of key races in the midterm elections, though they failed to flip control of the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), though, said Republicans won key provisions in the omnibus, including the funding for Ukraine.
“Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the number one priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans,” McConnell told reporters in a briefing. “That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.”
