The Biden administration announced this Tuesday the sending of a new military aid package for Ukraine in the amount of 300 million US dollars, despite the protracted blockage of funds for Kiev by Republicans in Congress.
The White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, explained at a press conference that the funds being sent to Ukraine come from “unexpected savings” from arms contracts negotiated by the Pentagon. “It turns out we negotiated well and these contracts were under budget, leaving us with a modest amount of funding,” he explained.
The aid package includes Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and artillery ammunition, anti-tank systems and maintenance equipment, according to the Defense Ministry. The supplies, however, are like that They will only meet Ukrainian needs “for a few weeks.”, in Sullivan’s words. “It is not enough to meet battlefield needs in Ukraine and will not prevent them from running out of ammunition in the coming weeks.”
Biden’s adviser emphasized that this assistance was “extraordinary” and that the White House will no longer be able to finance Ukraine without having a “significant” impact on the “military readiness” of the United States, which is why he called on Congress to act.
Since sending the last aid package in mid-December, the Biden administration has repeatedly insisted that the government has no more money to support Ukraine and has given assurances that it will The legislative path is the “only” way to provide more financial aid to the Eastern European country.
This is not the first time that the Pentagon has announced additional and unexpected funding sources for Ukraine; it did so last year. However, this time the delay in the arrival of aid supplies in Ukraine resulted in significant territorial losses for the president’s troops. Volodymyr Zelensky.
The most notorious case was that of the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops managed to take the city after more than a month of siege. The stalemate situation in Washington has motivated European powers, led by the Czech Republic, to commit to purchasing ammunition for Ukraine.