It depends on Congress, predictions cannot be made: Austin on US aid to Ukraine
Lloyd Austin (Photo: Getty Images)
The future aid to Ukraine from the United States depends solely on the decision of Congress, states Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin at press conference following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein.
According to him, he sees that the Ukrainian military is confident they will be able to continue defending Ukraine. However, much depends on the assistance they receive, particularly in terms of ammunition and defense aid.
"We certainly would hope that we would see the supplemental get passed soon. I continue to see broad support in both chambers of Congress for Ukraine and so I am optimistic that we will see some action moving forward, but again this's the thing that you cannot absolutely predict and we'll continue to work closely with Congress and our international partners to ensure that Ukraine receives the support it needs," Austin said.
Problems with US assistance to Ukraine
The US Congress has been unable to approve new funding for aid to Ukraine for several months now. This is due to the position of some Republican congressmen who refuse to vote on and approve the document.
After the failure of the vote on Joe Biden's bill for $106 billion in aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, a new bill for $96 billion for these three countries was developed in early February of this year, but without provisions for the protection of the southern US border with Mexico. Over $60 billion is earmarked for Ukraine in this bill.
On February 13, the Senate approved this bill. However, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson refuses to bring the bill to a vote in the lower chamber of Congress.
Additionally, Johnson has stated that the House will unblock the bill for aid to Ukraine, but the document will differ significantly from the $95 billion package passed by the Senate. Specifically, assistance to our country will be provided through a loan or credit program.
On March 12, the US administration announced the allocation of a new $300 million military aid package to Ukraine. This is the US's first military aid package to Ukraine since December 2023.
The White House noted that these funds would only be enough to purchase weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces for two weeks.
