US to provide military aid to Ukraine worth an additional £775m
7 December 2024, 22:24
The money is the last of the funds approved by Congress to bolster the country in its fight against Russia.
The United States will provide nearly 1.0 billion US dollars (£780 million) more in longer-term weapons support to Ukraine, defence secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday.
The Biden administration is rushing to spend all the congressionally approved money it has left to bolster Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.
The latest package will include more drones and munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the US has provided.
While these weapons are critically needed now, they will be funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for longer-term systems to be put on contract.
The weapon systems purchased are often intended to support Ukraine’s future military capabilities, not make an immediate difference on the battlefield.
The 988 million dollar (£775 million) package is on top of an additional 725 million dollars (£569 million) in US military assistance, including counter-drone systems and HIMARS munitions, announced on Monday that would be drawn from the Pentagon’s stockpiles to more quickly get to the front lines.
The US has provided Ukraine with more than 62 billion dollars (£49 billion) in military aid since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine is facing an intensified onslaught by Russia, which is now using thousands of North Korean troops to augment its fight to take back the Kursk region.
Moscow also has launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile and regularly strikes Kyiv’s civilian infrastructure.
With questions about whether Mr Trump will maintain military support to Ukraine, the Biden administration has been trying to spend every dollar remaining from a massive foreign aid bill passed earlier this year to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible.
“This administration has made its choice. So has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own choice,” Mr Austin said at an annual gathering of national security officials, defence firms and lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
