President Biden on Thursday announced an estimated $8 billion in aid for Ukraine, reduced billions of dollars in Pentagon military stockpiles that were at risk of expiring on Sept. 30, provided additional Patriot air defense artillery pieces and expanded training for F-16 pilots.
The announcement came ahead of a meeting in Washington on Thursday between Biden, Vice President Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is expected to present Biden and Harris with a “victory plan” on how to overcome Russia's nearly three-year, all-out military offensive after attending the United Nations General Assembly.
“I am proud to welcome President Zelenskyy to the White House today. For nearly three years, the United States has rallied the world to stand with the Ukrainian people defending their freedom from Russian aggression, and providing Ukraine with the help it needs to prevail has been a top priority of my administration,” Biden said in a statement.
The president was forced to announce a multi-billion dollar aid package after Congress failed to include the administration's request to extend Presidential Drawback Authority (PDA) for Ukraine in the interim budget bill it passed Wednesday night, forcing the White House to allocate $5.5 billion in military aid that was set to expire at the end of the fiscal year.
Congress' failure to extend the PDA is one sign of Washington's dysfunction and growing Republican opposition to the allocation of aid to Ukraine.
Biden also announced that the Department of Defense would provide $2.4 billion in security assistance through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which will be used to purchase additional air defense and unmanned aerial systems, air-to-ground weapons, and to strengthen Ukraine's defense industrial base and support its sustainment requirements.
But increasingly partisan posturing over U.S. aid to Ukraine has pushed the issue up the agenda for the November election, and Mr. Zelensky has become increasingly vocal in his opposition to former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), over concerns that a Republican administration would force Ukraine to acknowledge Russian aggression.
In an interview with The New Yorker, Zelensky called Vance “too extreme” and questioned whether President Trump knew how to end the Ukraine war.
Trump slammed Zelenskiy at a campaign event in North Carolina earlier this week, saying the wartime leader was making “nasty smears” about him.
And Trump's allies in the House are defending the Republican presidential nominee.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who passed a Ukraine aid bill over his own party's opposition in April, on Wednesday called for the removal of Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. and accused Zelenskiy of “election interference” after the Ukrainian president visited a factory that makes weapons for Kiev with Pennsylvania's Democratic governor. Zelenskiy also made a similar visit to Utah in July with the Republican governor.
And House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) launched an investigation into Zelensky's Pennsylvania visit on Wednesday morning, suggesting it was part of a campaign stint for Democratic presidential nominee Harris.
