Pentagon says Biden won't have time to spend "several billions" of dollars on aid to Ukraine
The administration of President Joe Biden will not have time to use the entire amount of funding for aid to Ukraine approved by Congress in the spring of 2024, by the time Donald Trump is inaugurated. As stated by the deputy spokeswoman of the U.S. Department of Defense Sabrina Singh, there will be "several" billions of dollars left, which the new administration will decide how to use.
"So, on Ukraine, you know, as you mentioned, there will be a few billion dollars in authority left for the incoming administration to decide what they decide to do with that remaining authority," Singh said at a briefing in Washington.
She also expressed hope that bipartisan support for Ukraine in the U.S. Congress will remain, since it is thanks to American assistance that Kyiv is achieving successes on the battlefield. "But they do that with the support of the United States and other allied countries and coalitions through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group," the Pentagon spokeswoman emphasized.
Now, according to her, the United States, together with its partners, has allocated more than USD 126 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale russian invasion in February 2022.
Regarding the possible "freezing" of assistance by the new administration, Sabrina Singh noted that the Trump administration will decide on further steps. At the same time, she expressed hope that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group will continue its work, and support for Kyiv will remain strong.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on January 3, White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby said that the United States is going to announce new security assistance for Ukraine in the coming days.
On December 24, Ukraine received the first USD 1 billion from the United States, secured by proceeds from the frozen assets of the aggressor country, russia.
On December 13, CNN, citing a senior Biden administration official, stated that the administration was working to increase arms shipments to Ukraine in his final days in office.