"There is no other magic pot." United States reports lack of funds for new aid packages to Ukraine

After Christmas, the United States of America provided the last package of military aid to Ukraine, for which funds were allocated. Congressional support is needed to resume the flow of aid.

This follows from a statement by the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, during a briefing, the press service of the White House cites.

"...we have given now Ukraine the last security assistance package that we have funds to support right be- — right before New Year’s, right after Christmas. And we’ve got to get support from Congress so we can continue to do that," he said.

Kirby explained that U.S. President Joe Biden signed the last security aid package the country had funds for under the supplemental authority.

"Now, there’s always a lag of days, if not weeks, each time we sign out one of these packages. So, the things that were signed out on the 27th have not all been delivered to Ukraine; that will come in coming days and weeks. But after that, absent supplemental funding, there’s — there’s no other magical pot to dip into to try to get support for Ukraine," he emphasized.

When the reporter clarified that this meant there were no other government stockpiles of weapons that could be used temporarily and then replenished later, Kirby said he was not aware of any quick fixes that could be made.

"I mean, I don’t want to — I don’t want to get ahead of the decision-making process here. I mean, we’re going to do what we can to continue to support Ukraine. But in terms of the kinds of security assistance that we’ve been able to provide and the frequency with which we have provided it — every two weeks — that ended on the 27th when we submitted our last one for the year, the last one that we had funding applied to," he concluded.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on December 29, U.S. President Joe Biden called on Congress to approve new funding for aid to Ukraine against the background of the russian federation's massive attack on Ukraine. He emphasized that air defense systems are "vitally important" for the protection of the civilian population.

In mid-December, during a press conference, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about the details of U.S. aid and stated that it is needed now.