U.S. to continue flowing aid to Ukraine, albeit in smaller packages - Pentagon

10.11.2023 08:42

Ukrinform

The U.S. will continue to allocate defense assistance packages to Ukraine within the limits of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) in the near term, with the Pentagon calling on Congress to approve additional funding as soon as possible.

This was stated by the deputy spokesperson for the Department of Defense, Sabrina Singh, who spoke at a press briefing on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“We're going to continue to roll out packages, they just are getting smaller. So we really implore Congress to pass the supplemental request that the President sent up so that we can continue to meet Ukraine's battlefield needs," said the Pentagon spokesperson.

She clarified the estimates announced by the White House the day before, noting that the U.S. has already used up more than 95% of the initial $62.3 billion that was allocated to support Ukraine since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Singh recalled that the administration has already used all the funds from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and has about $1 billion more in reserve within PDA packages.

In addition, according to the official, Ukraine relies on the support of other partners.

"We just had a Contact Group last month. We are going to have another Ukraine Defense Contact Group in mid-November. Allies and partners are continuing to support Ukraine, we are continuing to support Ukraine in what they need in their fight," said Singh.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, this week the House Foreign Affairs Committee supported by a majority of votes a bipartisan bill on the use of seized Russian assets to help Ukraine.