Please pray to money-hungry Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy, whose U.S.-funded paycheck is about to be scrapped. But first, the war-torn country will receive a billion-dollar check signed by President Joe Biden, who is concerned that the Trump Administration will put the U.S. money toward its own needs.
Two Biden-Harris Administration officials told Politico that the president is working on sending Ukraine $6 billion in military aid ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in January 2025. They fear a Trump White House, a GOP-controlled Senate, and the possibility that a Republican-controlled House of Representatives would cut off support for Zelensky, who has begged the U.S. for more money for the past two years.
The plan, described by two administration officials who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, is the only option the White House has to keep sending equipment to Ukraine to fight off continued Russian offensives. But the problems are immense. It normally takes months for munitions and equipment to get to Ukraine after an aid package is announced, so anything rolled out in the coming weeks would likely not fully arrive until well into the Trump administration, and the next commander in chief could halt the shipments before they’re on the ground.
However, as Politico noted, there is an issue with the administration’s plan.
The U.S. is only allowed to send equipment already in its possession. Although the money for the equipment is already allocated to reimburse the Pentagon, it just depends on how fast new artillery shells and weapons can be produced and replaced.
In April, Congress passed a $61 billion aid package. However, only $4.3 billion is left to pull existing weapons stocks—an additional $2.1 billion remains to purchase new weapons from industry.
“We have been sending whatever industry can produce each month, but the problem is you can only send these things as they are produced,” former DOD budget official Mark Cancian said. “The administration could dip into the stockpiles and send equipment more quickly, but it’s unclear the Pentagon would want to do that since it would affect its own readiness.”
As of September 27, 2024, the Biden-Harris White House had sent Ukraine $175 billion in aid and additional funding, which has only fueled the war.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to end the years-long war between Ukraine and Russia “within 24 hours” and pull the U.S. out of its battlegrounds. The President-elect said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine would never have happened if he had been in the White House.