Biden-Harris admin announces plans to send $425 million more to Ukraine

The Biden-Harris administration announced Wednesday that it is sending another $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine after Presidents Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone about the need for more aid in the fight against Russia.

The money will be used to furnish additional air defense capabilities, air-to-ground munitions, armored vehicles, and other critical munitions, according to a readout from the White House. The administration has now dispensed more than $59 billion of military aid since the war between Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022.

“President Zelensky updated President Biden on his plan to achieve victory over Russia, and the two leaders tasked their teams to engage in further consultations on next steps,” the White House said. “The leaders committed to intensify security assistance planning alongside international partners in order to ensure that Ukraine has the equipment it needs to prevail.”

The Biden-Harris administration is committed to keeping Ukraine running smoothly during the ongoing war. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) recently sent out a pep video announcing how it plans to keep the power running in that country even as it was failing to do so for Americans suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

The White House readout of the Biden-Zelensky call also specified that the US will provide Ukraine “with a range of additional capabilities” in the coming months, “including hundreds of air defense interceptors, dozens of tactical air defense systems, additional artillery systems, significant quantities of ammunition, hundreds of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, and thousands of additional armored vehicles, all of which will help to equip Ukraine’s armed forces.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken again promised to support “Ukraine with the equipment it needs to strengthen its position on the battlefield, defend its territory and people from the Kremlin’s brutal aggression, and secure a just and lasting peace.”

On Telegram, Zelensky, thanked Biden for the aid package and said the US leader “offered to consider the possibility of developing joint production of weapons,” and the two of them “discussed the importance of additional training for Ukrainian soldiers.”

Also on Wednesday, Zelensky told the Ukrainian parliament about his “Victory Plan” that he shared with Biden and former President Donald Trump during his last visit to the US, the Washington Examiner noted. During his stay, Zelensky toured a Scranton, PA armaments factory. Zelensky’s victory plan includes membership in NATO, something NATO is not willing to consider at this time and an option that Russia has said it will never tolerate.

Zelensky is also keen on deploying “a comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package. “If we start implementing this Victory Plan now, we may be able to end the war no later than next year,” Zelensky said. The Ukrainians are also expecting the US to accede to its demands that it be allowed to fire US missiles directly at Russian targets inside the country. Biden has so far refused to do that, citing how it would dangerously escalate the war, the Examiner noted.