Biden: Additional $800M For Ukraine Coming ‘In The Next Few Days’

The White House will announce that it will approve an additional $800 million in security aid to Ukraine “in the next few days,” President Joe Biden said Thursday at the conclusion of the NATO summit in Madrid.

The Biden administration has sent $7 billion in military, economic, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the president took office in January 2021. The latest tranche is expected to include some advanced Western military equipment that has been a top priority for Ukraine, Biden said. 

“In the next few days, we intend to announce nearly $800 million more including new advanced Western air-defense systems for Ukraine, more artillery and ammunition, counter battery radars, additional ammunition for the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems we’ve already given Ukraine, and more HIMARS coming from other countries as well,” Biden said during a press conference.

Ukraine’s priority in recent weeks has been getting longer-range ground artillery to combat Russian forces in the Donbas. Two Ukrainian pilots told reporters last week that getting modern, Western military equipment was their top need to be able to counter Russian cruise missiles, which have been pelting Ukraine from Lviv to Kyiv to Odesa. 

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that the administration was working on a security assistance package that would include advanced air defense capabilities. 

Other nations also announced more aid for Ukraine on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid, where leaders approved a new strategy that focuses on Russia as the top threat to the alliance. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday that Canada was finalizing a deal to send 39 armored combat support vehicles to Ukraine. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said the United Kingdom will provide another 1 billion pounds to help support Ukraine. 

“The United States is rallying the world to stand with Ukraine,” Biden said.

Last month, Congress overwhelmingly approved more than $40 billion in supplemental funding for military, humanitarian, and economic aid, as well as replenishing American weapons stocks that have been raided to help Ukraine, despite some Republican criticisms that Biden was prioritizing foreign aid over domestic issues like inflation or supply chain shortages. Since then, the administration has announced nearly $1.5 billion in additional weapons shipments to Ukraine. 

At the press conference, Biden was asked how long politics and other priorities will allow big-ticket aid packages like this to continue. 

“We are going to support Ukraine as long as it takes,” he said. Russia is “paying a very, very heavy price for this. Just today, Snake Island is now taken over by the Ukrainians. So we are going to stick with Ukraine, and all of the alliance is going to stick with Ukraine as long as it takes to in fact make sure that they are not defeated.”