U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House in Washington, U.S., on September 26, 2024.
Elizabeth Franz | Reuters
US President Joe Biden on Thursday used President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to announce more than $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine to help Kiev repel Russian invaders.
The support includes the first shipment of precision-guided glide bombs, known as Joint Standoff Weapons, with a maximum range of 81 miles (130 kilometers). The medium-range missile will significantly improve the weapons Ukraine is using to attack Russian forces, and will allow Ukrainians to attack from a safer distance.
The bomb can hit targets with high precision and will be dropped from fighter jets. Biden will not announce that the United States will allow U.S. missiles to be used in Ukraine to attack targets deep in Russia, U.S. officials said.
Biden said in a statement that aiding Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022, is a priority for the United States.
“That’s why today I’m announcing a surge in security assistance to Ukraine and a series of additional actions to help Ukraine win this war,” said Biden, who leaves office in January.
The bulk of the new aid, $5.5 billion, will be allocated by the end of the U.S. fiscal year on Monday, when the funding authority expires. Another $2.4 billion is under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the administration to buy weapons for Ukraine from companies rather than from U.S. stocks.
This will provide Ukraine with additional air defense, unmanned aerial systems and air-to-ground weapons, and will strengthen Ukraine’s defense industrial base and support its maintenance and sustainability needs, Biden said.
The president said that under his plan, the Pentagon would refurbish and deliver additional Patriot air defense batteries and additional Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
Biden ordered the Pentagon to expand training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots, including helping train 18 more pilots next year.
President Zelensky thanked Biden and the US Congress for the new military aid package and said Ukraine would use it in the “most efficient and transparent manner.”
“We are grateful to the United States for providing us with the most important items to protect our people,” President Zelenskiy said on the X program, referring to Patriot batteries, drones and long-range missiles.
Republican criticism of Zelensky
To counter Russian sanctions evasion and money laundering, the United States will act to disrupt what Biden called a “global cryptocurrency network in coordination with international partners.”
Biden said he would convene a summit meeting of the Ukraine Defense Liaison Group in Germany next month to coordinate the efforts of more than 50 countries to support Ukraine.
Before meeting with Biden, Zelensky met with Democratic and Republican lawmakers at the Capitol. He met for more than an hour with about 20 senators from both parties before a separate bipartisan session of about 12 members in the House of Representatives.
“It was bipartisan and positive,” Republican Rep. Joe Wilson, leader of the House Ukraine Caucus, told reporters.
Congress has approved nearly $175 billion in aid and military assistance to Ukraine and its allies in the two-and-a-half years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion, and many lawmakers believe that Washington has not been able to protect Kiev domestically. He said he expects more funding will need to be approved to help. The next few months.
This visit was much lower profile than previous parliamentary visits. The House and Senate left Washington on Wednesday night to wait until after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Sen. Dick Durbin said Mr. Zelenskiy had laid out a plan to win. “This is something very fundamental, to make sure that the Ukrainians continue to have momentum, and to do that, we need not only the personnel, but also the ability to carry out the mission,” Durbin told reporters. We also need equipment and supplies.”
Although Ukraine’s national defense enjoys largely bipartisan support in the United States, the Ukrainian government faces growing criticism from some Republican leaders, including Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
President Trump has criticized Ukraine’s president as he prepares for the November 5 election, and has declined Zelensky’s request for a meeting, at least for now.
The former president criticized Zelensky on Wednesday at a campaign rally in North Carolina, saying, “We continue to give billions of dollars to Mr. Zelensky, who rejected the deal.”
Trump also accused Biden and the Democratic president’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, of allowing Russian aggression.
Many Republicans in Congress are furious that Mr. Zelensky visited a military factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Biden grew up, on Sunday. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into Zelensky’s visit.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who did not meet with Mr. Zelensky on Thursday, called for the ambassador to Washington to be fired for planning the Scranton visit, but he told reporters the request was against military aid. He said it was not a threat.
