US President Joe Biden is reportedly set to announce an additional $800 million in aid for Ukraine, bringing the total amount of US aid to over $1 billion amid Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.
An unnamed senior White House official told reporters on Tuesday that an additional $800 million in aid would soon be announced which would bring “the total announced in the last week alone to $1 billion.”
The official did not state what equipment would be included in the coming aid; however, a $200 million package announced on Saturday included equipment to help Ukrainian forces against “armored, airborne, and other threats it is facing,” the US State Department revealed.
On Tuesday, President Biden signed into law a sweeping $1.5 trillion government funding bill that includes $13.6 billion in “humanitarian and security assistance” for Ukraine.
“With this new security funding and the drawdown authorities in this bill, we’re moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country,” Biden said, promising to share more details about the aid on Wednesday.
Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, claiming that Russia must demilitarize and “denazify” the government in Kiev after it refused to peacefully resolve the Donbass conflict and sought nuclear weapons and NATO membership. Ukraine has blasted the move as an “unprovoked” attack and insisted it had no intention of reclaiming the Donbass region by force. In the meantime, weapons and other forms of military aid – as well as a steady stream of volunteer foreign fighters – have flooded into Ukraine from NATO states as fighting in the country reaches its third week.