Biden Sends Another $500 Million to Ukraine Ahead of Trump Inauguration

On Thursday, the outgoing Biden Administration announced yet another aid package to Ukraine, this time amounting to $500 million.

As reported by Fox News, the latest aid package was announced during what is expected to be the final meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, which took place at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

“If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” said Austin at the summit. “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.”

The newest aid package includes missiles for fighter jets, support equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems, and small arms and ammunition. The package was funded by presidential drawdown authority (PDA), which means that the supplies in question are being taken from American stockpiles rather than being manufactured specifically for Ukraine.

This marks the 74th aid package that the Biden Administration has sent to Ukraine since August of 2021. Since the war between Ukraine and Russia first broke out in February of 2022, the United States has sent at least $66 billion to Ukraine.

Following the latest aid package, there will be approximately $3.85 billion left in funding that has been designated for future arms shipments to Ukraine. If this money is not spent by the time Biden leaves office, then incoming President-elect Donald Trump can choose to not send any of it to Ukraine.

At the same summit meeting, Zelensky begged the future president to continue providing aid to Ukraine, saying that “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,” Zelensky continued, “everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”

President-elect Trump has vowed to bring an end to the war, although he has been more skeptical of the route of simply sending as much aid to Ukraine as possible.