As the Biden administration scrambles to use up the money allocated by Congress before leaving office in January 2024, Biden on December 12 approved a $500 million military aid package for Ukraine. This is the 72nd aid package since the US began supporting Ukraine in 2022.
White House National Security Adviser John Kirby said the aid package includes air defense systems, artillery, drones and armored vehicles.
According to Pentagon estimates, the weapons are worth about $500 million and are funded by Presidential Drawing Authority (PDA) - a mechanism that allows the US to withdraw weapons from its stockpile to provide emergency supplies to allies.
In addition, last week, Ukraine also received another aid package worth $988 million, authorized by the US Department of Defense through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program - an independent military assistance mechanism.
After Donald Trump won the election in early November and pledged to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including possibly cutting aid to Kiev, the Biden administration quickly pledged to maximize its resources to support Ukraine before leaving office.
At the same time, Mr. Biden also allowed Ukraine to use long-range missiles provided by the West to strike deep into Russian territory, crossing the “red line” that Moscow had warned. Russian officials said that this move brought the US and NATO into a state of direct confrontation with Russia instead of just conducting a proxy war.
In this context, President-elect Donald Trump not only publicly criticized but also strongly opposed Mr. Biden's decisions. In an interview with Time magazine, Mr. Trump emphasized: "Why would we do that? This is clearly a serious escalation. I think this is a bad decision."
Moscow has said that no amount of support from the West can change the outcome of the conflict. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Biden administration was leaving behind a “challenging legacy” of heightened tensions with Russia.
