Outgoing Biden administration announces new $1bn military aid for Ukraine

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin has announced a new $1bn military aid package for Ukraine, adding to the United States’ ongoing efforts to support Kiev amid its protracted conflict with Russia in the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration.

The outgoing Biden administration unveiled the new $1bn US military aid package for Ukraine on Saturday.

Austin said he planned to deliver the $1bn in additional military aid to war-torn Ukraine to continue fighting the Russian troops.

Austin pointed out that the incoming Donald Trump administration will be steering the ship from now on.

“The baton will soon be passed,” Austin said. “Others will decide the course ahead. And I hope that they will build on the strength that we have forged over the past four years.”

The new package of military aid valued at $988mn includes drones and munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARs) that the US has previously provided.

US announces $6 billion military aid for Ukraine amid massive strikes

The US has announced an additional $6 billion long-term military aid package for Ukraine to buy American arms.

The fresh package of military aid comes on the heels of a separate $725mn in military assistance announced on December 2.

Since Russia launched its special military operation in the Russian-speaking Donbas region in eastern Ukraine in February 2022, the US and its Western allies have pledged hundreds of billions worth of military aid to Kiev.

Washington, individually, claims it gave $62bn in military aid to Ukraine, but the latest rush of funds and supplies to Ukraine takes place as Christmas and holiday season is around the corner in the waning days of Biden’s administration.

After Christmas and the holiday season are over and Trump takes office on January 20, it is still unclear whether he will choose to spend the US taxpayers hundreds of billions to continue the Biden Administration’s militaristic foreign policy.

Trump and most Republican lawmakers are opposed to huge funding for Ukraine and other militaristic projects, including NATO.

Ukraine war will end ‘sooner’ with return of Trump: Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the Ukraine war will end “sooner” with the arrival of US President-elect Donald Trump in the White House.

On Saturday, Trump met briefly with Zelensky as they both were invited by French President Emanuel Macron to attend the reopening ceremony of the famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

During his campaign for re-election, Trump had described Zelensky as the “greatest salesman on Earth” for extracting military aid from the US and other Western countries.

“Every time Zelensky comes to the United States, he walks away with $100bn,” Trump said, vowing to “settle the war in Ukraine and end the chaos in the Middle East” when he takes office next month.

Austin, speaking earlier for a group of national security officials at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, said it is still unclear what Trump's new administration means for US foreign policy.

“This administration has made its choice. So has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own choice,” Austin explained.

Austin claimed that if Reagan, who was also a Republican, were still alive today, he “would have stood on the side of Ukraine.”

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk