Biden to send another $500 MILLION in weapons to Ukraine

On Thursday, the Biden administration announced its final package of military aid for Ukraine before Trump takes office in less than two weeks. Trump has said that the war between the two nations will be resolved "very quickly" under his second term.

The 74th tranche of equipment includes missile rounds for air defense, air-to-ground munitions, small arms and ammunition, and support equipment for F-16 jets, among other things, amounting to $500 million. 

According to Fox News, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made the announcement when he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensy for the final time at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. 

"If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow," Austin said at the 25th meeting of around 50 nations who have supported Ukraine. The group of nations have provided Ukraine with an estimated $122 billion in weapons and support. "If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests, and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war," he added.

Zelensky said, "We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created. No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased of the map."

According to CNN, Biden was set to meet with Zelensky in Rome on Friday, but the White House announced late Wednesday night that the trip was canceled so he could focus on the multiple wildfires in and around Los Angeles.

Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, the Biden-Harris administration has given Ukraine $65 billion in aid. The latest package reportedly leaves around $3.85 billion in funding for future arms shipments to Ukraine. 

In December, House Speaker Mike Johnson declined to approve any new funding for Ukraine. "I think, as we predicted, and as I said to all of you weeks before the election, if Donald Trump is elected, it will change that, the dynamic of the Russia war on Ukraine, and we're seeing that happen. It is not the place of Joe Biden to make that decision now. We have a newly elected president, and we're going to wait and take the new commander-in-chief's direction on that. I don't expect any Ukraine funding to come up." The latest package was given under the Presidential Drawdown Authority.