Military aid packages for Kiev will get “smaller,” the US Defense Department’s deputy spokeswoman has said
FILE PHOTO. © Global Look Press / Volodymyr Tarasov
Washington is about to run out of funds allocated for Ukraine and will need to begin reducing military aid to Kiev, the Pentagon told journalists on Thursday.
The Defense Department has urged Congress to break an impasse and greenlight the White House’s request for a $106-billion aid bundle, which includes funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Washington has spent around 95% of previous funding for Ukraine, the Pentagon’s deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said, adding that this totals more than $60 billion. Only about $1 billion out of that sum remains unspent, she said. The remaining money will be used to send military equipment from existing stocks to Ukraine and replace it with new orders.
“We have had to meter out our support for Ukraine,” Singh told reporters, adding that, although the Pentagon will continue sending military aid packages, they are “getting smaller.”
Out of Biden’s $106-billion request to congress, $61.4 billion is intended as emergency funding for Ukraine.
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Last week, the Republican-majority House of Representatives sought to separate aid for Ukraine and Israel by passing a $14-billion standalone package for West Jerusalem. The White House opposes the effort and Democrats in the US Senate blocked the House bill on Tuesday, demanding that Republicans agree to the full package proposed by the Biden administration.
The US has spent some $44.2 billion on military assistance to Kiev since fighting broke out between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, the US State Department said last week, adding that an additional $3 billion had also been spent on it between 2014 and 2022.
On Wednesday, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) testified to the Senate that funding for economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine had also run out. The last tranche was provided at the end of the fiscal year – before September 30 – the agency’s assistant administrator Erin McKee said at that time, adding that Ukraine’s economic stability would be at risk unless the funding continued.
