U.S. Air Force personnel load aid bound for Ukraine at Dover AFB, Delaware, in January 2023.
The Pentagon will roll out one more tranche of aid for Ukraine before the end of the month as allocated funding will dry up, with the Defense Department imploring Congress to approve more money under a supplemental funding measure before the holiday break.
The Biden administration has allocated essentially all the money that is available under the Pentagon’s replenishment authority, with one more aid package planned for this month, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Dec. 18.
The Pentagon has warned Congress there is about $1.07 billion left for the department to use for replenishment, according to a Bloomberg report. Kirby says the White House has focused on using this spending to jump-start defense industrial base production lines and increase industrial capacity across the country.
Recent aid packages announced by the Pentagon have been smaller than in prior months. The last package, announced Dec. 12, totaled $200 million and included AIM-9M missiles for air defense, air defense system components, high-speed anti-radiation missiles (HARM), artillery rounds and other equipment.
Ukrainian officials have recently visited the U.S. to press for additional aid, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking with lawmakers and President Joe Biden on Dec. 12. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov visited the Pentagon on Dec. 6. Aid approval is bogged down in Congress, as Republican lawmakers are pressing the White House for a new agreement on U.S. border security.
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