US President Joe Biden’s administration has provided more than $65 billion in support since the full invasion of Russia.
United States President Joe Biden has announced that his administration will send nearly $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine, as the president rushes aid to the war-torn country before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
The new round of aid, announced Monday, includes $1.25 billion stemming from the presidential recall authority, which allows Biden to withdraw materials from US military supplies without needing congressional approval.
Another $1.22 billion comes from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a program run by the Department of Defense and funded by congressional appropriations.
In addition to military aid, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also unveiled $3.4 billion in economic aid on Monday to help Ukraine’s government and support its infrastructure.
“I have directed my administration to continue to add as much aid to Ukraine as quickly as possible,” Biden said in a statement. “At my direction, the United States will continue to work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war for the remainder of my time in office.”
Since February 2022, Ukraine has sought to repel a full-scale invasion by Russia. But in the years since the outbreak of war, Republicans have grown increasingly divided over the delivery of future aid to the country.
That aid is likely to face its biggest test yet in the new year. In January, the Republican Party will take control of both houses of Congress and the White House.
While Biden, a Democrat, has been a staunch supporter of continued US aid to Ukraine, President-elect Trump has signaled skepticism about further aid and expressed his desire to bring the war to a swift conclusion. He campaigned on an “America First” political platform.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Biden on Monday for the latest US aid package, which comes at a vital time for his country.
Ukraine faces labor shortages and strained national morale after nearly three years of fighting. Russian forces also continue to make advances in eastern Ukraine: On Sunday, for example, Russia claimed to have captured the village of Novotroitske.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022, the US Department of Defense says the Biden administration has provided more than $65 billion in support.
As part of this amount, Biden has delivered 23 aid packages from USAI funds. Monday’s announcement also marks the “73rd installment of equipment” that Biden has pulled from Defense Department inventories since August 2021.
“Every act of solidarity from our partners saves lives, strengthens our independence and reinforces our resilience. It also shows that democracies are stronger than autocratic aggressors,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media site X.
Monday’s weapons package will include drones, guided missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS), anti-tank weapon systems, air-to-ground munitions and spare parts, according to the Defense Department.
Support for such aid remains high. A November poll by the Pew Research Center found that 25 percent of Americans believe the US is sending the right amount of aid to Ukraine, and 18 percent say it is not sending enough.
In contrast, 27 percent of respondents indicated that too much aid is being sent to Ukraine.
This number increased among people associated with the Republican Party when they were taken into solitary confinement. About 42 percent of Republicans told the Pew Center that the U.S. was sending too much aid. Only 19 percent indicated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a threat to the US.
