National Defense

Biden Pentagon Rolls Out $1.7 Billion Arms Package To Ukraine

Flickr/Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith

The Pentagon announced on Monday that it was delivering a new arms package to Ukraine worth $1.7 billion amid the country’s war with Russia.

The Biden administration has thus far appropriated more than $175 billion in economic and military assistance for Ukraine since Russia began its invasion of the country in 2022. The new $1.7 billion package will provide Ukraine with missile and air defense munitions, artillery rounds, small arms, explosives, and communications and electronic warfare equipment, according to the Pentagon.

“The United States will continue to work together with some 50 Allies and partners to ensure Ukraine’s brave defenders receive the critical capabilities needed to fight Russian aggression,” a statement from the Pentagon reads.

Pentagon announced that $1.5 billion of the $1.7 billion package will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds, which were replenished to the tune of $13.8 billion as part of a $61 billion aid appropriations package passed by Congress and the White House earlier this year, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The other $200 billion will be tapped from the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which also received $13.4 billion in replenishments as part of the $61 billion package.

Ukraine has repeatedly urged its Western allies to deliver a steady flow of military aid so that it can maintain its defenses along the front lines of the war against Russia. President Joe Biden and his administration have been among Kyiv’s strongest supporters since the war began and have been vocal about the need to support Kyiv’s war efforts, most recently hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., during the week of July 9.

Even so, Ukraine’s odds of victory in the ongoing war have dwindled. An attempt to stage a counteroffensive in the summer of 2023 failed by Kyiv’s own admission and Ukrainian forces have since been attempting to maintain defensive postures along the eastern theater of the war.

Low manpower and lack of access to modern weaponry have forced Ukrainian forces to retreat from some positions along the frontlines as Russian forces, with better access to manpower and military equipment, continue to seize territory, although at high human life and financial cost.

Former U.S. officials and defense experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that a peace settlement may be the only viable path forward at this point in the war.