Biden administration announces nearly $1 billion aid package for Ukraine as Trump meets with Zelenskyy

(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the Pentagon will send nearly $1 billion to Ukraine, bringing the total the United States has committed to Ukraine to more than $62 billion since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

The package dedicated an additional $988 million to Ukraine and will provide the country with more drones, rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and support for maintenance and sustainment.

Since the package was made through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, the assistance will be for contracts to deliver these systems to Ukraine after they are manufactured. This is different from the program the U.S. routinely gives Ukraine assistance through in which existing weapons from U.S. military stockpiles are provided to Ukraine quickly and the dollar amounts replenish U.S. supplies with new weapons.

“Together, we have helped Ukraine survive an all-out assault by the largest military in Europe,” said Austin, who noted he has convened the Ukraine Defense Contract Group of allies to Ukraine 24 times to coordinate aid. “Meanwhile, Russia has paid a staggering price.”

Austin said that since Russia launched its offensive, it has suffered at least 700,000 casualties and lost more than $200 billion.

This aid package is part of the effort to try to get Ukraine as much military aid as possible before the Trump administration takes over on Jan. 20 and is the 22nd aid package the Biden administration has sent to Ukraine under the USAI. It is likely the Biden administration is not going to be able to use up the almost $8 billion in Ukraine military aid funding still available that it had hoped to give Ukraine before the start of the Trump administration, according to a U.S. official. That opens up the possibility that it will be up to the Trump administration to decide what to do with the remaining congressionally approved funds.

Austin was delivering the keynote address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday as he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell each accepted the Reagan Peace Through Strength Award.

“There is no such thing as a safe retreat from today’s interwoven world,” he said. “We are seeing a sneak preview of a world built by tyrants and thugs, a chaotic world, violent world, far into spheres of influence.”

“This administration has made its choice, and so has a bipartisan coalition in Congress,” Austin added. “The next administration must make its own choice. From this library, from this podium, I am confident that President Reagan would have stood on the side of Ukraine, American security, and human freedom.”

His remarks followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with President-elect Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris earlier Saturday ahead of the reopening ceremony for the Notre Dame Cathedral. Foreign leaders have been attempting to pressure Trump to continue sending aid to Ukraine once he takes office.

Trump has reportedly been in communication with the Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times since leaving office in 2021 and has vowed he will end the war in Ukraine in “24 hours.”

“The baton will soon be passed,” Austin concluded. “Others will decide the course ahead. And I hope they will build on the strength that we have forged over the past four years.”

The remarks come as Trump’s pick to lead the DOD, Pete Hegseth, has faced increased scrutiny amid allegations of sexual misconduct and claims he has been drunk in public.

Trump has stood by his choice of Hegseth, saying in a preview of his interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “Pete is doing well now. I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He’s a young guy with a tremendous track record. … He loves the military, and I think people are starting to see it. So we’ll be working on his nomination, along with a lot of others.”

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