Biden will waste no time in signing off this vital weapons injection
US WEAPONS could be sent to Ukraine within days after the House of Representatives voted to approve the long-awaited military aid package.
Kyiv’s army has resorted to increasingly desperate measures amid dwindling supplies of key missiles and relentless Russian bombardment that has translated into front-line advances.
Some troops have had to rely on civil society donations of items like drones or have started using decoy air defence systems to draw away enemy fire.
The Pentagon has already moved stockpiles of the most-needed arms closer to Ukraine’s borders in anticipation of the bill passing to be sent to Kyiv at short notice.
Joe Biden’s “supplemental” bill on foreign aid funding has been held up for months, but last night the House voted to approve the package, sending it on to the Senate, where it is expected to pass early this week. Chuck Schumer, the Democrat majority leader in the Senate, has suggested it could be approved as early as Tuesday. Mr Biden has said he will sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk.
The package replenishes a Pentagon budget that can be accessed by Mr Biden through presidential drawdown authority, a power used for foreign aid purchases.
It allows the White House to send existing US military stockpiles to another country. More than $40 billion (£32 billion) worth of equipment has been sent to Ukraine using this method since February 2022.
Maj Gen Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, this week told of the movement of weapons closer to Ukraine. “We have a very robust logistics network that enables us to move material very quickly,” he said. “We can move within days.”
The main aid requests from Ukraine to other allies in recent months have been for air defence missiles to protect cities from Russian attacks, and shells to use on the front lines in the East.
The next package is likely to include Atacms missiles, which have already been sent in limited quantities to the front line, and Patriot missiles for air defence. The most recent round of aid, which was drawn from savings in the existing Pentagon budget, included munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars).
The US stores some 155m howitzer rounds in Europe, and could send them quickly to Ukraine within days.
The global supply of 155m rounds had begun to dwindle after the US budget for Ukraine aid dwindled and European manufacturers were unable to keep up with demand.
Despite initial plans for a spring offensive this year, Ukraine has resorted to defending its existing front lines against Russian troops, without the weapons or personnel to launch a new push into Crimea.
The military draft in Ukraine was this week lowered to include men aged over 25, from its previous level of 27.
As the war has progressed, the US has agreed to send increasingly expensive military systems to Kyiv, including the Abrams tank.
Russia has also stepped up its defence procurement and has received drones from Iran and Chinese missile tech, according to US officials.
The Pentagon hopes that the package approved yesterday will be enough to meet America’s defence commitments to Ukraine until the presidential election in November.
Republican efforts to stall the aid have ramped up in recent months amid pressure from Donald Trump who has opposed further spending and promised to end the war “in one day” if he wins the election.
Despite Ukraine’s requests for advanced fighter jets from the US, planes are unlikely to be approved, although last year, Mr Biden approved some F-16 fighter jets to be sent to Ukraine from Denmark, under a rule that allows the US government to determine which countries can use planes that American manufacturers have produced.