The National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, firing a missile. The system, jointly produced by the US and Norway, is a critical part of Ukraine’s air defense. (Photo: Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace)
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department today announced a new package of military assistance for Ukraine collectively worth roughly $2.5 billion, as the Biden administration in its waning days rushes to get aid to Kyiv out the door.
Included in the announcement is $1.25 billion worth of equipment delivered via presidential drawdown authority, as well as $1.22 billion stemming from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds. Drawdown equipment is taken directly from US stocks, whereas USAI funds can support a range of activities from training to the purchase of new equipment.
The aid package, the Biden administration’s final of 2024, represents the depletion of USAI dollars Congress appropriated in an April supplemental spending bill, according to a White House press release.
According to the Pentagon, drawdown equipment focused on Kyiv’s “most urgent needs,” such as missile defense articles, artillery munitions and anti-tank weapons. For its part, USAI funds covered capabilities such as air defense and drones. The full list of equipment from a DoD press release is as follows:
- Munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);
- HAWK air defense munitions;
- Stinger missiles;
- Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (c-UAS) munitions;
- Ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition;
- Air-to-ground munitions;
- High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs);
- Unmanned Aerials Systems (UAS);
- Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
- Tube-launched, Optically guided, Wire-tracked (TOW) missiles;
- Small arms and ammunition and grenades;
- Demolitions equipment and munitions;
- Secure communications equipment;
- Commercial satellite imagery services;
- Medical equipment;
- Clothing and individual equipment; and
- Spare parts, maintenance and sustainment support, ancillary equipment, services, training, and transportation.
The package comes during a tough winter for Ukraine amid an onslaught of Russian strikes, including a Christmas Day attack on the country’s power grid. With USAI funds depleted, President Joe Biden is hurrying to spend remaining drawdown authority before President-elect Donald Trump takes office — whom many observers fear could turn off the spigot of military assistance for Kyiv.
“I’ve directed my Administration to continue surging as much assistance to Ukraine as quickly as possible — including drawing down older U.S. equipment for Ukraine, rapidly delivering it to the battlefield, and then revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base to modernize and replenish our stockpiles with new weapons,” Biden said in the release.
“At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office,” he added.
