The Biden administration will not be able to allocate $3.8 billion of U.S. aid earmarked for Ukraine before the president leaves the White House, raising questions over the future of the funding when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Newsweek has contacted the Trump transition team and the Pentagon for comment.
Why it matters
Trump has repeatedly criticized continued U.S. military aid for the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine amid anticipation over what his presidency will mean for the invasion launched by Russia especially if billions of dollars of funding are left on the table when he enters office.
What to know
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday a $500 million package for Ukraine—the last tranche of funding under the Biden administration.
The Pentagon said that under Austin’s leadership of the 50-nation Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), $126 billion in security assistance for Ukraine had been agreed.
The U.S. is the biggest contributor to Ukraine’s war efforts and the latest money through the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which pulls military supplies and weapons from U.S. stockpiles, marks the end of $65.9 billion of assistance the Biden administration has sent to Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
However, around $3.8 billion of the PDA program will remain unused in this presidential term despite the White House’s pledge to spend the entire amount by the time Biden leaves the White House on January 20.
The Pentagon has said that the funds will be at the disposal of Trump after his inauguration, Voice of America reported.
Department of Defense Press Secretary Patrick Ryder said on Friday that he would not speculate on whether the Trump administration will allocate that money to Ukraine but that there was bipartisan support in Congress for continuing assistance.
Meanwhile, Biden said on Friday he did all he could to help Ukraine and voiced optimism that U.S. support will continue after he leaves office, as he also pointed to a cross-party consensus that he hoped would push Trump if he decided to cut funding.
Trump takes office on January 20 and has said that he would end the war quickly, although exactly how he plans to do this is unclear.
What people are saying
Department of Defense Press Secretary Patrick Ryder said on January 10: “Obviously I won’t speculate about what the incoming administration may do but we do know that there is strong bipartisan support in our Congress for supporting Ukraine.”
President Joe Biden on January 10: “It is my hope and expectation they’ll (Congress) speak up and not agree to if president… if Trump decides to cut off funding for Ukraine.”
Michael Waltz, Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor, told CBS on December 15: “a blank check (for Ukraine)…just isn’t a strategy.”
What happens next
There is a question mark over what might happen to the unspent billions the Biden administration had intended for Ukraine especially as Pentagon spokesman Ryder said that he would not speculate about what the incoming president may do.
Bloomberg has reported Trump has given no indication he intends to ask Congress to approve further assistance.
However, citing unnamed officials, the Financial Times reported in December that Trump plans to continue sending military equipment to Ukraine after his inauguration.
While Trump has hinted at a possible reduction of U.S. assistance, he told Time magazine in an interview published in December that he wants to reach an agreement to end the war and that he would not “abandon” Ukraine. This could mean he might seek to leverage U.S. aid to push the Kremlin to the negotiating table.
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