The Biden-Harris administration announced another $500 million in “additional security assistance support” for Ukraine on Thursday, just before the end of President Joe Biden’s term in office and President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
In a Thursday press release, the U.S. Defense Department wrote, “Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced additional security assistance support to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs as part of the surge of security assistance the President directed to put Ukraine in the best possible position.” The Defense Department added that the military assistance included a roughly $500 million Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) package.
According to the Defense Department, the additional military assistance includes armored bridging systems, communications equipment, small arms and ammunition, support equipment for F-16s, air-to-ground munitions, AIM-7, AIM-9M, and RIM-7 missiles, ancillary equipment, spare parts, services, training, and transportation. Fox News reported that the weapons included in the military assistance will be provided from current U.S. stockpiles.
Thursday’s press release noted that the transfer of weapons as part of the $500 million in military aid marks the “seventy-fourth tranche of equipment to be provided from DoD inventories” for Ukraine since August of 2021.
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According to Fox News, the announcement of the additional Ukraine aid provided by the Biden-Harris administration came as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
During Thursday’s meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Austin warned, “If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow.” He added, “If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests, and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war.”
Zelensky also urged the incoming Trump administration to continue supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,” Zelenskyy stated. “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”
