US President Biden announces $2.5bn military aid package for Ukraine

Administration of US President Joe Biden has committed much than $65bn successful enactment since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

United States President Joe Biden has announced that his medication volition nonstop astir $2.5bn successful subject assistance to Ukraine, arsenic the president rushes aid to the war-torn state earlier President-elect Donald Trump takes bureau successful January.

The caller circular of assistance, announced connected Monday, includes $1.25bn derived from statesmanlike drawdown authority, which allows Biden to retreat materials from US subject supplies without the request for legislature approval.

Another $1.22bn comes from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a programme tally done the Department of Defense and funded by legislature appropriations.

In summation to the subject aid, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen besides unveiled $3.4bn successful economical assistance connected Monday to assistance Ukraine’s authorities and prop up its infrastructure.

“I’ve directed my medication to proceed surging arsenic overmuch assistance to Ukraine arsenic rapidly arsenic possible,” Biden said successful a statement. “At my direction, the United States volition proceed to enactment relentlessly to fortify Ukraine’s presumption successful this warfare implicit the remainder of my clip successful office.”

Since February 2022, Ukraine has sought to repel a full-scale penetration from Russia. But successful the years since the warfare erupted, Republicans person grown progressively fractured implicit providing aboriginal assistance to the country.

That assistance is apt to look its top trial yet successful the caller year. In January, the Republican Party is acceptable to instrumentality power of some houses of Congress and the White House.

While Biden, a Democrat, has been a steadfast protagonist of continued US assistance to Ukraine, President-elect Trump has signalled scepticism astir further assistance and expressed his tendency to bring the warfare to a speedy close. He campaigned connected an “America First” argumentation platform.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Biden connected Monday for the latest US assistance package, which comes astatine a captious clip for his country.

Ukraine faces manpower shortages and straining nationalist morale aft astir 3 years of fighting. Russian forces besides proceed to marque advances successful eastbound Ukraine: On Sunday, for instance, Russia claimed it had seized the colony of Novotroitske.

Since the motorboat of Russia’s full-scale penetration successful 2022, the US Defense Department says that the Biden medication has committed much than $65bn successful support.

As portion of that sum, Biden has delivered 23 assistance packages from USAI funds. Monday’s announcement besides marks the 73rd “tranche of equipment” Biden has drawn from Defense Department inventories since August 2021.

“Every enactment of solidarity from our partners saves lives, strengthens our independence, and reinforces our resilience. It besides demonstrates that democracies are stronger than autocratic aggressors,” Zelenskyy said successful a station connected the societal media tract X.

Monday’s weapons bundle volition see drones, guided missiles, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), antitank weapons systems, air-to-ground munitions and spare parts, according to the Defense Department.

Support for specified assistance remains high. A November canvass by the Pew Research Center recovered that 25 percent of Americans judge the US is sending the close magnitude of assistance to Ukraine, and 18 percent accidental it is not sending enough.

By contrast, 27 percent of survey respondents indicated that excessively overmuch assistance is being sent to Ukraine.

That fig accrued among radical affiliated with the Republican Party, erstwhile taken successful isolation. An estimated 42 percent of Republicans told the Pew Center the US was sending excessively overmuch aid. Just 19 percent indicated that Russia’s penetration of Ukraine was a menace to the US.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies