Pentagon has $5.2 billion left for Ukraine’s defense

The Pentagon has over £5.2 billion remaining in its coffers to provide defense assistance to Ukraine. Pentagon officials shared this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. According to journalists, £5.2 billion in security assistance for Ukraine is "about six months of weapons if the United States continues to send supplies to Ukraine at the same pace as it has since early March."

This is about 12% of the total £43.9 billion in security assistance that the United States has provided since Russia's invasion in February 2022. The United States also used the funds of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program to support Ukraine, but at the moment, according to journalists, the USAI coffers are empty.

The Pentagon has £5.2 billion left for Ukraine's defense. Photo credits: Pentagon

The WSJ reports that the £5.2 billion left by the Pentagon emerged after officials discovered an accounting error in May.

"Which essentially gave the US Department of Defense more money for Ukraine than it had anticipated," the journalists said. The error was due to a discrepancy in the Pentagon's assessment of the weapons being supplied. The Pentagon also has another £1.6 billion, which it uses to replenish its own weapons stockpile.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham noted that the withdrawal of financial support for Ukraine would have ten times worse consequences than the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Kyiv, May 26, 2023. Photo credits: Radio Svoboda

Over the weekend, to avoid a shutdown, the United States passed a temporary budget that does not include aid to Ukraine.

President Joe Biden signed the budget but noted that under no circumstances should there be any interruption in support for Ukraine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that the temporary US budget will not stop the aid that was announced earlier.