Defense Department Admits To Spending Every Dollar of Latest Ukraine Aid Package Prior To Congress Approving It
Jose Nino
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On March 25, 2024, Politico reported that the Defense Department dropped hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine four months prior to Congress ever approving it.
President Joe Biden on March 23 approved the United States’ Congress’ $1.2 trillion 2024 spending bill which featured roughly $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), as Ukraine has not received funding from Congress in over a year. The $300 million allocated was already spent by the Department of Defense (DOD) in November due to how it was mandated under a continuing resolution at the time.
That said, the $300 million in aid featured in the appropriations bill has no current physical value and “is not available to us right now,” an anonymous US official informed Politico.
On a previous occasion, the Defense Department announced a $300 million aid military package to Ukraine back in November. The Defense Department, however, warned it “exhaust[ed] the remaining USAI funds currently available to support Ukraine.” The USAI was established when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and has the goal of allegedly providing aid for longer-term projects.
Due to depleting military aid, the Biden regime had been pursuing the longer-term solution of supplying Ukraine with $60 billion in additional aid, which Congress was recently able to approve of.
“DOD has repeatedly urged Congress to pass a supplemental to support Ukraine in its time of need and to replenish our stocks,” Defense Department spokesman Major Charlie Dietz said to Politico. “For Ukraine, this supplemental is vital — there’s no other way to meet Ukraine’s needs at scale.”
Ukraine has received well over $100 billion in military aid from the US and its satrapies in NATO since the country’s war against Russia kicked off in early 2022. Ukraine appears to be losing this conflict as Russia’s larger and better-armed armed forces have inflicted severe casualties on Ukraine. Now, Ukraine is facing major manpower and equipment shortages — a scenario that not only points to a potential Russia victory but even a thorough disintegration of the Ukrainian state.
If policymakers want peace and Ukraine to remain intact, they should aim to end the proxy war in Ukraine by cutting off military aid to it and pushing Ukraine to go to the negotiating table. Ultimately, this will require Ukraine to fully rebuff the neocon/neoliberal interventionist freaks running the US’s foreign policy.
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