The Pentagon warns that the money to replace weapons sent to Ukraine by December 30 will run out, unless the US Congress approves new funding. That’s what Comptroller Michael McCord wrote in a Dec. 15 letter to the leaders of the House and Senate defense policy and appropriations committees, Bloomberg News reports.
According to him, the US Department of Defense is spending its last $1.07 billion to buy new weapons and equipment that will replace those withdrawn from stocks and sent to Ukraine.
“After these funds, the department will have exhausted the funding available to us for security assistance in Ukraine,” McCord wrote.
On December 12, the Biden administration announced that it was sending Ukraine package of US supplies worth 200 million dollarswhich includes artillery shells, small arms ammunition and other weapons.
Once this is done, The Pentagon will be able to send another aid package to Ukrainesaid McCord.
The US Senate votes on aid to Ukraine and Israel next week
The Senate will adjourn
Although the letter pressured members of Congress to reach an agreement on funding Ukraine, it also means that House Republicans still they have some time to reach an agreement when they return after January 1 from their vacation.
We recall that precisely this vacation last week grilled congressmen and the White House. It is expected that the matter will be voted on this week.
The Republicans control the lower house of Congress, the House of Representatives. They are calling for more funding to protect the U.S.’s own borders instead of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, thereby blocking the $160 billion package requested by Biden and Democrats.
US senators have been unable to agree on the bill since September, and on December 7 it failed to garner the necessary number of votes for approval. Washington has warned that without the approval of additional funding, funds to support Ukraine will run out by the end of the year. The head of the office of the Ukrainian president Andriy Yermak admitted that Kiev can be defeated without the help of the United States. Politico also wrote that the existing reserves of funds of Ukraine they will only reach the end of December.
Speech of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not bring anything new to the US Congress earlier in Decembersaid Sen. Eric Schmidt, Republican of Missouri, after the closed-door meeting.
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2023-12-18 18:39:44
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