US President Joseph Biden’s administration is preparing to announce a new arms package for Ukraine next week, Reuters reports.
“The composition of the next arms aid package is still under development and is due to be unveiled on Wednesday at the 16th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, where security assistance will be a key topic, officials said. The amount of aid is expected to be about $200 million and may include ammunition and ground equipment similar to those in recent aid packages,” the report said.
It is noted that the US Department of Defense continues to spend funds identified as a result of a multibillion-dollar accounting error. These funds have allowed the Biden administration to send weapons, materials, and ammunition to Kyiv, despite the fact that new aid to Ukraine was excluded from the temporary spending bill passed by the House of Representatives last weekend to prevent a government shutdown. However, the Pentagon still has approximately $5.4 billion available under the Presidential Decision Authority (PDA) granted by Congress, after the Pentagon revealed in June that an accounting error had overstated the cost of arms delivered to Ukraine by $6.2 billion.
In addition, Biden is asking Congress to approve another $24 billion for Ukraine, which supporters of aid to Ukraine, both Republicans and Democrats, had hoped might become law as part of the spending bill. This request has not yet been considered.
The United States and European partners are studying the legal basis for using frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, including $300 billion, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
“In my opinion, if you hack something, you have to pay for it. And if the Russians have hacked, they should pay for it. And one of the ways to do that is through these assets. We have to make sure that there is a legal basis for this. As I said, since most of these assets are in Europe, the Europeans also have to make sure that there is a legal basis for this,” he said during a discussion at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, October 4.
According to Blinken, we are talking about $300 billion.
The secretary of state believes that allowing Russia to do what it is doing to Ukraine without punishment will send a signal around the world to countries that are going to start aggression that they can get away with it: “This is opening a Pandora’s box of conflicts. No one will be happy in this world, a world of conflict and aggression,” he said.
In his opinion, in this world, the United States would invariably be involved in a conflict, and it would cost much more than supporting Ukraine.
Bleicken also noted that 50 countries are actively supporting Ukraine.
The U.S. Department of Defense has the ability to provide Ukraine with another $5.4 billion worth of weapons, Voice of America reports, citing the Pentagon.
“The Pentagon has the opportunity to provide Ukraine with another $5.4 billion worth of weapons. Currently, the United States can make deliveries from its warehouses for this amount to meet the urgent needs of the Armed Forces on the battlefield,” the Voice of America said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
The U.S. Senate has approved a temporary funding bill aimed at averting a government shutdown, previously approved by the House of Representatives, Reuters reported on Saturday.
The Senate, with a Democratic majority of 88 to 9, voted to pass the measure to avoid the fourth partial shutdown of the federal government in a decade, sending it to President Joe Biden to sign into law before a deadline of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time (07:01 a.m. Kyiv time – IF-U).
Earlier, the House of Representatives voted 335 to 91 to fund the government through November 17, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it.
“The American people can breathe a sigh of relief: There will be no government shutdown tonight,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote. “From the beginning, Democrats have said that the only solution to avoid a shutdown is bipartisanship, and we are pleased that Speaker McCarthy has finally listened to our message.”
Democratic Senator Michael Bennett held up the bill for several hours in an attempt to negotiate a deal on further aid to Ukraine.
“While I would have preferred to pass the bill now with additional assistance for Ukraine, which has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, it is easier to help Ukraine with an open government than if it were closed,” said Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.
Earlier it was reported that the bill on temporary funding does not include US assistance to Ukraine.
During his visit to the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the most influential American entrepreneurs and heads of major funds, the press service of the Presidential Office reported on Friday.
The meeting was organized with the assistance of JP Morgan, the world’s largest investment bank. The total value of assets under management of the funds whose managers participated in the event exceeds 30 trillion. In particular, according to the press service, the meeting was attended by Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg, Pershing Square Capital chairman Bill Ackman, Starwood Capital chairman Barry Sternlicht, Citadel LLC founder Ken Griffin, Blackstone investment company president Jonathan Gray, BlackRock deputy chairman Philip Hildebrand, Schmidt Futures charity chairman Eric Schmidt, Kraft Group chairman Robert Kraft and others.
“The parties discussed the prospects of involving the largest American business in Ukraine’s recovery and the implementation of investment projects. American entrepreneurs and financiers confirmed their readiness to make large-scale investments in Ukraine immediately after the end of the war and the receipt of security guarantees,” the press service reports.
President Zelenskyy also had a separate meeting with Larry Fink, chairman of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company.
The United States will provide Ukraine with new security assistance worth $128 million, as well as $197 million in weapons and equipment as part of a previously authorized reduction, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
The package contains additional air defense munitions “to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses against Russian air attacks now and in the coming winter, when Russia is likely to resume its attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure,” Blinken said on Thursday, CNN reports.
“It also contains artillery munitions and anti-tank weapons, as well as cluster munitions that will further enhance Ukraine’s ability to continue its counteroffensive against Russian forces,” he added.
This statement was made during a meeting between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Joe Biden in Washington, DC.
