Biden Approves 72nd Aid Package for Ukraine

12 December, 2024 Loading ammunition at the US Air Force base in Dover, 2022. Photo: Mauricio Campino/U.S. Air Force

U.S. President Joe Biden has approved another military aid package for Ukraine. This was announced at a briefing by John Kirby, Strategic Communications Coordinator for the White House National Security Council.

According to Kirby, the package of military aid to Kyiv includes "additional air defense equipment, artillery, drones, and armored vehicles." He noted that this is the 72nd such aid package provided under the U.S. President's authority to reduce the number of weapons in U.S. army warehouses.

"We will continue to provide additional aid packages until the end of this administration," the White House official emphasized.

John Kirby. Photo: US media

Before that, on December 7, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a significant new security assistance package for Ukraine worth almost £1 billion.

This aid was allocated under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which includes weapons orders from American manufacturers. The Biden administration is now using the balance of the funds approved by Congress to provide military aid to Ukraine. Recently, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan promised to deliver hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of missiles, and hundreds of armored vehicles to Ukraine by mid-January.

155mm shells at a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA, February 16, 2023. Photo: REUTERS

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken assured NATO and the Ukrainian side of the readiness to fully use the funding for Ukraine authorized by Congress. The United States will also train a new brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Germany.

Negotiations are currently underway with France to train a second brigade in France, similar to the way the 155th Mechanized Brigade was trained.