U.S. names air defense of Ukraine priority in future aid packages
Photo: John Kirby, Coordinator of the National Security Council at White House (Getty Images)
The White House considers strengthening Ukraine's air defense a priority in forming future lists of arms packages as part of aid from the United States, says the coordinator of the National Security Council of the White House, John Kirby, at a briefing in Washington.
According to the American official, the United States wants to make air defense systems and means the main priority in the list of arms supplies for the Ukrainian side against the backdrop of ongoing Russian air attacks.
Kirby added that the U.S. administration plans to implement this as soon as it becomes possible to resume the transfer of aid packages to Ukraine. Currently, Washington lacks funding for this.
The situation with U.S. aid to Ukraine
Earlier today, on January 4, the White House announced that the United States no longer has the funds to provide new military aid packages to Ukraine. According to the coordinator of the National Security Council, John Kirby, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the last security assistance package for which "we have authority over the funds."
He added that not all weapons from the last military aid package have been delivered to Ukraine yet, and it will happen within the coming weeks.
Recall that at the end of 2023, Congress could not approve President Joe Biden's request to allocate over $100 billion for national security needs, which included over $60 billion for Ukraine.
The main stumbling block was the Republicans, who refused to support the initiative. They demanded that the White House include their proposals to strengthen border security in its request.
It was also reported on December 27 that the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States provided Ukraine with a $250 million military aid package, which could be the last one in the near future.
