Biden orders Pentagon to drain billions in unspent Ukraine aid as Trump-Zelensky relationship sours further
WASHINGTON — President Biden said Thursday while hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House that he’s ordering the Pentagon to spend “all” congressionally approved aid to Ukraine before he leaves office — ahead of former President Donald Trump’s possible return to power.As Zelensky looked on, Biden, 81, told reporters in the Oval Office that his Kyiv counterpart had “shared a preview of [his] plan to win this war” and that the US would bankroll the effort to defeat Russia’s nearly three-year-old invasion — moments before Trump posted a private letter from Zelensky seeking a meeting, which the Republican presidential candidate did not grant, to social media.“Today I’m proud to announce a new $2.4 billion package of security assistance.I’ve also directed the Pentagon to allocate all of the remaining security assistance funding that has been appropriated to Ukraine, period, by the end of my term, which is Jan.
20,” Biden said before Zelensky separately met with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.The White House said Biden was releasing $2.4 billion from the Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to spend on drones, ammunition and air defense, and approving $5.5 billion worth of US military equipment using “presidential drawdown authority” ahead of the end of the fiscal year Monday.It’s unclear exactly how much congressionally appropriated money remains to be spent — though $3 billion in additional drawdown authority recently found due to a Pentagon accounting error remains unspent, Reuters reported.The term “drawdown authority” describes the president’s ability to provide US military equipment from Pentagon stockpiles to another country.
The congressionally approved funds are then spent to purchase new weapons to backfill American stockpiles.Bipartisan majorities in Congress have approved $175 billion in aid for Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022 —...