SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) 鈥� The United States will provide nearly $1 billion more in longer-term weapons support to , Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday as the Biden administration all the congressionally approved money it has left to bolster Kyiv before takes office next month.
The latest package will include more drones and munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that the U.S. has provided. While , they will be funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for longer-term systems to be put on contract.
The weapon systems purchased are often intended to support Ukraine's future military capabilities, not make an immediate difference on the battlefield.
The nearly $1 billion package is on top of , including counter-drone systems and HIMARS munitions, announced Monday that would be drawn from the Pentagon鈥檚 stockpiles to more quickly get to the front lines. The U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $62 billion in military aid since Russia鈥檚 invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine is facing an intensified onslaught by Russia, which is now using thousands of to take back the Kursk region. Moscow also has and regularly strikes Kyiv's civilian infrastructure.
With questions about whether Trump will maintain military support to Ukraine, the Biden administration has been trying to spend every dollar remaining from a passed earlier this year to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible.
鈥淭his administration has made its choice. So has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own choice,鈥� Austin said at an annual gathering of national security officials, defense firms and lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
Trump had a Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and France's Emmanuel Macron while in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. Macron and other European leaders are trying to persuade Trump to maintain support for Ukraine.
Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has and called for bringing a quick end to the war, raising concerns in Ukraine about what terms may be laid out for any future negotiations.
Austin said he was 鈥渃onfident that President Reagan would have stood on the side of Ukraine, American security and human freedom.鈥�
It was one of Austin鈥檚 last major speeches as President Joe Biden鈥檚 defense secretary and a cap to his more than 41 years serving as a soldier and general.
Under Austin鈥檚 watch, the Pentagon in 2022 launched a regular meeting that now counts more than 50 countries to figure out how to get the tens of millions of rounds of ammunition and billions of dollars in advanced weaponry to Ukraine. Without that flow of support, it's possible the country would have fallen to Russia after it invaded.
鈥淭ogether, we have helped Ukraine survive an all-out assault by the largest military in Europe,鈥� Austin said.
Austin and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longtime Republican leader, were honored at the conference for their lifetime of service, and they used the opportunity to press for the U.S. to continue to build and support its alliances, a sharp contrast to Trump鈥檚 鈥淎merica First 鈥� policy.
Austin called the Ukraine Defense Contact Group 鈥渢he most consequential global coalition since the time of President George H.W. Bush and Iraq鈥檚 1990 invasion of Kuwait,鈥� showing that "America and our friends have become the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy.鈥�
Before Saturday's announcement, there was roughly $8 billion left to use to pull existing weapons out of U.S. stockpiles and to put additional weapons on contract to help Ukraine.
鈥淲e're not going to stop Putin by telling Ukraine we aren't going to give you anything more,鈥� Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said at a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum.
Tara Copp, The Associated Press
