Ukraine aid to remain in Pentagon funding bill despite earlier plans to cut funds – House of Representatives speaker
In the Pentagon financing bill, support for Ukraine will remain despite previous indications of withdrawing these funds.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, reported this, according to The Hill.
As the spokesman of the Chamber noted, he decided to keep these funds after he realized that another budget bill – on financing the State Department and foreign operations – also provided money for Ukraine.
McCarthy said that removing aid to Ukraine from the State Department budget and foreign operations "is becoming increasingly difficult," so he decided to keep money for Kyiv in both projects.
Next week, the House of Representatives is scheduled to hold a single procedural vote on four appropriations bills, including:
- the Pentagon's funding,
- Department of State and Foreign Operations.
They emphasize that the 300 million dollars in question relate to financing the program "Assisting Ukraine in ensuring security." It has existed since 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
It should be noted that the CNN channel previously reported that the leaders of the Republican factions in the US Congress are discussing the possible removal of $300 million in aid funding to Ukraine from the defense budget to unblock votes on other budget issues.
Rubryka wrote that the new package of US military aid to Ukraine worth $325 million includes AIM-9M air defense missiles, Avenger air defense systems, additional ammunition for HIMARS, and several other weapons.
For reference:
On September 21, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived at the White House to hold a meeting and negotiations with the leader of the United States, Joe Biden.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also met with US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin as part of his visit to Washington.
In turn, Lloyd Austin confirmed that the United States will continue actively working with Ukraine and its allies and partners to provide the Ukrainian army with everything it needs to succeed on the battlefield.
At the same time, the new aid will not include ATACMS army tactical missile systems, which would help Ukrainian fighters strike enemy targets at a long distance.
