US President Joe Biden has signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which provides a record $886 billion for defense needs in fiscal year 2024, the White House said in a statement on Friday, December 22.
“The law authorizes appropriations for the fiscal year primarily for the Department of Defense, national security programs of the Department of Energy, the Department of State, and the intelligence community. The law provides the critical authority we need to build the armed forces needed to deter future conflicts, and supports the service members, their spouses and families who carry out this mission every day,” the statement said.
As reported, on December 14, the US Senate approved a $886 billion defense bill, according to which a new position of special inspector general is to be created to monitor the use of military aid by Ukraine.
It was also reported that the Senate version of the budget included $300 million for Ukraine.
The latest list of U.S. weapons that Ukraine needs to fight the Russian army includes modern air defense systems, F-18 fighters, drones, Apache and Blackhawk helicopters, Reuters reports, citing documents seen by the agency.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry officials presented a “list of weapons to meet the needs of Ukraine’s defense forces” during a closed-door session of a conference in Washington on Wednesday attended by government officials and defense industry executives.
The full list includes weapons that Ukraine already has in stock, such as Abrams tanks and 155mm artillery, as well as some weapons, such as F-16s, drones, and long-range ATACMS missiles, that it has requested in the past.
“But there are a few surprises on the list, including expensive items such as Boeing’s (BA.N) C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft and Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) C-130 Super Hercules. The list includes Apache attack helicopters, as well as the Black Hawk helicopter manufactured by Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky division,” the report said.
According to Reuters, the documents show that Ukraine is also requesting F-18 Hornet fighter jets, three types of General Atomics drones, including the MQ-9B Sky Guardian, and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system made by Lockheed.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson said that Washington would provide additional funding for Kyiv, Politico reports.
“I think it will all come together in the coming days. I’m confident and optimistic that we can do it – get it done,” he said.
Johnson said that there is a sense of urgency in getting aid to both Israel and Ukraine, adding that there is “a lot of thoughtful negotiations going on among members of Congress.”
The speaker also said that assistance to Israel is a top priority for the United States and called assistance to Ukraine another priority.
“Of course, we can’t let Vladimir Putin march through Europe, and we understand the need to provide assistance there (Ukraine – IF-U),” Johnson said.
He explained that if Ukraine needs additional assistance, which most members of Congress consider important, then it is also necessary to work on changing US border policy.
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.
