The Pentagon has only $1 billion left for Ukraine
(Baonghean.vn) - A Pentagon representative admitted that the US is about to run out of money allocated to Ukraine and will need to start reducing military aid to Kiev.
The US Department of Defense has called on Congress to break the deadlock and greenlight the White House's request for a $106 billion aid package, including funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Washington had spent about 95 percent of its previous funding for Ukraine, adding that the total was more than $60 billion. Only about $1 billion remained unspent, she said. The remaining money would be used to send military equipment from existing stocks to Ukraine and replace new orders.
“We have to show our support for Ukraine,” Singh told reporters, acknowledging that while the Pentagon will continue to deploy military aid packages, they are “getting smaller and smaller.” Of Biden’s $106 billion request to Congress, $61.4 billion is intended as emergency funding for Ukraine. Last week, the Republican-led House of Representatives sought to separate aid to Ukraine and Israel by passing a separate $14 billion aid package for West Jerusalem. The White House opposed the proposal, and Senate Democrats blocked the House bill on Tuesday, demanding Republicans agree to the full package proposed by the Biden administration.
The US State Department recently said that the country has spent about $44.2 billion on military support for Kiev since fighting broke out between Russia and Ukraine in February last year, emphasizing that another $3 billion has also been spent on this in the 2014-2022 period.
On Wednesday, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) testified before the Senate that its economic and humanitarian funding for Ukraine has also run out. The last aid was provided at the end of the fiscal year - before September 30 - Ms. Erin McKee, assistant administrator of USAID, said, at the same time, declaring that Ukraine's economic stability would be at risk unless the aid policy continued./.