WASHINGTON — The United States will send another $800 million security package and an additional $500 million in direct economic assistance to Ukraine as its military fights off a renewed Russian assault, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
“This is money the government can help use to stabilize their economy, to support communities that have been devastated by the Russian onslaught and pay the brave workers that continue to provide essential services to the people of Ukraine,” Biden said from the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
“With this latest disbursement, I’ve almost exhausted the draw-down authority I have that Congress authorized for Ukraine and a bipartisan spending bill last month,” Biden said, adding that he would send lawmakers a supplemental budget request next week.
Biden said he discussed the new assistance package in person with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the White House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the additional aid in a tweet.
“This help is needed today more than ever! It saves the lives of our defenders of democracy and freedom and brings us closer to restoring peace in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote.
At the Pentagon, a senior U.S. Defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share new details, said the new weapons package was tailored to meet an intensified fight in eastern and southern Ukraine. A second senior U.S. Defense official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share new details, said the first flights of military aid will depart for the region in the next 24 to 48 hours.
“The first rounds of that equipment will be in the Ukrainian hands by the end of the weekend,” the second official said.
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