U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before a Senate committee

Photo: Xinhua/Liu Jie

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced the last arms and equipment package of the year to help Ukraine, exhausting the existing funds still available to the Biden administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee in Washington, D.C., U.S. "It is imperative that Congress act quickly and as soon as possible to advance our national security interests by helping Ukraine defend itself and secure its future," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The weapons and equipment in the package are worth up to $250 million and are being provided "as part of a previously ordered drawdown for Ukraine," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

"The capabilities provided in today's package include air defence munitions, additional air defence system components, additional munitions for highly mobile artillery rocket systems, 155mm and 105mm artillery munitions, anti-tank munitions and more than 15 million rounds of ammunition," Blinken said.

Aid packages like the one just announced fall under the president's drawdown authority, which allows weapons to be pulled directly from the Defense Department's stockpile so they can be delivered quickly to Ukraine.

The United States has already exhausted funds from another form of assistance to Ukraine, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which was approved by Congress and allows the Department of Defense to purchase weapons for Kiev under contracts with arms manufacturers.

In his statement, Blinken reiterated the urgent need for Congress to get to work. "It is imperative that Congress act quickly and as soon as possible to advance our national security interests by helping Ukraine defend itself and secure its future," he said.

The Biden administration warned last week that funds previously approved by Congress to provide aid to Ukraine will soon dry up, saying that unless lawmakers recommit to additional funds to meet the White House's request to supplement the Ukraine budget by more than $60 billion, the administration will be able to announce only one additional package for Kiev by the end of the year.

"We're still planning one more aid package to Ukraine, and that's later this month," John Kirby, the National Security Council's strategic communications coordinator, told reporters on 18 December. "But when that package is completed ... we will have no further authority to add to it and we will need Congress to act promptly, as we have said it would," Kirby said.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans are withholding their votes for new money for Ukraine, conditioning their approval on Democrats making a compromise that satisfies the GOP demand for tighter border controls to keep incoming migrants at bay.

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the United States has committed more than $44.2 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, the Pentagon said in a fact sheet released Wednesday.

Xinhua/JaV