The Biden administration announced $200 million in new weapons aid for Kyiv during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, where the two leaders urged Congress to support continued security assistance.
During a joint press conference, Zelenskyy said he had “very productive” talks with lawmakers earlier on Tuesday while President Biden added he was “hopeful” there’s enough bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for the supplemental request with additional assistance for Ukraine.
“There is strong bipartisan political support for Ukraine. There’s a small number of Republicans who don’t want to support Ukraine but they don’t speak for the majority of any Republicans, in my view. We’re in negotiations to get funding we need. [I’m] not making promises, but [I’m] hopeful we can get there. I think we can,” Biden said during the briefing.
A procedural vote in the Senate to move forward on the $111 billion supplemental spending package with Ukraine aid stalled out last week, with the upper chamber now working on border security negotiations to gain additional Republican support for the legislation (Defense Daily, Dec. 6).
“Holding Ukraine funding hostage in an attempt to force through an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border is not how it works. We need real solutions,” Biden said.
During remarks at the National Defense University in D.C. on Monday ahead of his visit to Capitol Hill and the White House, Zelenskyy implored lawmakers to continue security assistance efforts for Ukraine in the fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
“Ukrainians haven’t given up and won’t give up. We know what to do and you can count on Ukraine. And we hope, just as much, to be able to count on you,” Zelenskyy said on Monday. “Let me be frank with you, friends, if there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it’s just Putin and his sick clique. They see [their] dreams come true when they see the delays or some scandals.”
The White House confirmed earlier this month it will run out of money to continue assistance efforts for Ukraine by the end of the year without Congressional action to provide additional funds (Defense Daily, Dec. 4).
“Congress needs to pass the supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess, before they give [Russian President Vladimir] Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him,” Biden said earlier on Tuesday during his meeting at the White House with Zelenskyy.
The Senate’s supplemental bill, unveiled last week, includes $15.1 billion to continue DoD efforts to support Ukraine with military training and intelligence sharing, $13.5 billion in additional USAI funds and $1.7 billion in Foreign Military Finance assistance “to address Ukraine’s and other regional partners’ air defense, artillery, maritime security, and maintenance and sustainment requirements,” according to a summary of the legislation.
The new $200 millions weapons aid package for Ukraine, the 53rd to be pulled from existing Pentagon inventories, includes AIM-9M missiles, additional ammunition for HIMARS launchers, HARM and TOW missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles and more than 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition, according to the Pentagon.
“It is critical that Congress takes action soon and passes the president’s national security supplemental request to ensure that Ukraine can consolidate and extend its battlefield gains,” the Pentagon said in a statement.