In a final push before the incoming Trump administration, the Biden White House is expected to announce an additional $1.25 billion in military aid to Ukraine.
The large aid package includes a significant number of ammunition, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. The package also includes Stinger missiles and 155mm and 105mm artillery shells.
Officials’ announcement is expected to be made on Monday, the Associated Press reported.
President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands after signing a security agreement on the sidelines of the G7 summit June 13 in Savelletri, Italy. (AP/Alex Brandon)
The latest funding comes after Biden announced a $988 million relief package earlier this month to Ukraine to ensure it has “the tools it needs to succeed in the fight against Russian aggression.”
“This government has made its choice. And that also applies to a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own choice,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. “But from this library, from this podium, I am confident President Reagan would have stood on the side of Ukraine, American security and human freedom.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron (center), U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (center) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pose before a meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on December 7, 2024. Trump is making his first international trip since his election victory. Prepare for a day of intense diplomacy before attending the reopening ceremony of Notre Dame Cathedral, restored after the 2019 fire. (SARAH MEYSSONNIER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The Biden administration has committed to providing as much aid to Ukraine as possible before Trump takes office in January.
During the campaign, President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance strongly criticized the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022.
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Trump also said he would end the war before taking office, without giving further details. Vance suggested earlier this year that the best way to end the war would be for Ukraine to cede land seized from Russia and establish a demilitarized zone – a proposal that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected outright.
Since the Trump campaign trial met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a ceremony commemorating the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday after a devastating fire there in 2019.
Ukrainian soldiers from the 24th Brigade are seen with small arms during a training exercise in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, Dec. 15. (Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
This latest announcement marks the government’s 22nd assistance package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
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beginning of December, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson rejected an administration request for Congress to authorize $24 billion in additional funding.
“It is not Joe Biden’s job to make this decision now,” Johnson said previously. “We have a newly elected president and we will wait and take direction from the new commander in chief in all of this. Therefore, I do not expect that any funds will be available for Ukraine now.”
