US announces $2.5bn in Ukraine security aid

Treasury Department says US will also send another $3.5 billion in budget aid to Kyiv

Ukrainian soldiers train in the Dnipropetrovsk region amid the Russian invasion. AFP

The US on Monday announced $2.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, as President Joe Biden moves to ensure promised funding from Washington before Donald Trump takes office.

The aid, which includes an additional $1.25 billion drawdown package for the Ukrainian military and a $1.22 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package, will provide Kyiv "with both an immediate influx of capabilities that it continues to use to great effect on the battlefield and longer-term supplies of air defence, artillery and other critical weapons systems", Mr Biden said in a statement.

He added that with this latest tranche of aid, "the Department of Defence has now allocated all remaining USAI funds appropriated by Congress in the supplemental that I signed in April". The US will draw down older defence equipment for Ukraine and then work "to modernise and replenish our stockpiles with new weapons".

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Congress has passed five bills allocating about $175 billion in aid to Ukraine, as well as to various US activities associated with the war and a small portion for other affected countries in the region, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

"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," Mr Biden said.

The Biden administration has been working to deliver all promised aid to Ukraine before Mr Trump returns to power.

Mr Trump has questioned the level of US involvement in the conflict and his allies in Congress have worked to block aid to Kyiv over the past year. The president-elect has said he plans to bring the war to a quick end, but due to his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, critics are concerned that any settlement would result in large territorial losses for Ukraine.

Separately, the Treasury Department announced another $3.5 billion in budget aid to Ukraine, which was provided in co-ordination with USAID and the State Department. It marks the final disbursement under the congressional act passed in April.

The funding brings the total in US budget aid to Ukraine, which is aimed at keeping the government running by paying salaries to teachers and civil servants, to a little more than $30 billion since the war began.