U.S. to Send Ukraine Another $250 Million in Military Aid Following Pentagon Accounting Error

For Ukraine’s continued counteroffensive against Russia, the Biden administration will deliver $250 million extra in weaponry and ammunition.

Using the presidential drawdown authority (PDA), the Pentagon will immediately deploy the weapons to Ukraine from the U.S. stocks as part of the military aid package. 

Since August 2021, the Biden administration has shipped 45 pieces of equipment to Ukraine.

The package contains over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, AIM-9M missiles for air defense, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155 mm and 105 mm artillery ammunition, mine-clearing tools, Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets, medical vehicles, and demolition munitions for clearing obstacles.

On Tuesday, Karine Jean-Pierre remarked.

The Pentagon said in June that it had overcounted the worth of the weaponry it had provided to Ukraine over the previous two years by $6.2 billion, and this “accounting error” is what is being used to pay for the $250 million package.

According to the Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, the error was made because U.S. military personnel used the value of replacing those weapons rather than the real worth of the weapons that were taken from the Pentagon’s arsenal and given to Ukraine. 

In most cases, newly manufactured weapons are more expensive than the surplus of older ones they 

replace.

Although the mistaken overvaluation of the equipment effectively freed up an additional $6.2 billion in financing, the United States would have already ran out of funding for the year to give Ukraine with further stockpile equipment.

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the United States has provided Ukraine with more than $43 billion in military aid, including the most recent shipment.

Through the PDA or the Ukraine Security support Initiative (USAI), military support has been given. In 2015, in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the USAI was established. Under this authorization, the US purchases weapons from foreign defense firms. Compared to the PDA, which delivers packages to Ukraine within weeks, packages sent by USAI take longer to arrive.

The funds were used to purchase howitzers and countless rounds of ammunition to counter the considerably larger Russian military. Many of the weapons and ammunition have already been used up during the brutal and murderous land war, which is now in its 18th month.

The Biden administration is “confident” that it “will have enough money to meet Ukraine’s need through the fiscal year,” Ms. Singh told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday.

“But as you know, there’s been a request for a supplemental. And we’re hopeful that the Congress will approve a supplemental package for Ukraine,” she added.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement on Tuesday in support of continued aid to Ukraine.

“Every day, Russia continues to wage a brutal war of conquest that has killed many of Ukraine’s civilians and displaced millions of its people. Their attacks on Ukraine’s ports and grain infrastructure have caused price volatility in food and grain markets and worsened hunger and global food insecurity around the world,” he said.

“Russia started this war and could end it at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine and stopping its brutal attacks. Until it does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes.”