U.S. President Joe Biden signed a memorandum allocating up to $60 million military aid package that includes military education and training to assist Ukraine, the White House announced on Aug. 27.
“I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the authority (…) to direct the drawdown of up to $60 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense,” the official statement reads.
The move comes ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with Biden on Aug. 31. The upcoming negotiations will center on arms supplies, U.S. financial support, energy and Ukraine’s progress in fighting corruption and establishing rule of law.
Ukraine’s top officials have called for more U.S. military aid to defend against Russia’s war, now in its eighth year. Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have intensified during 2021, with the Kremlin massing troops and rattling sabers near Ukraine’s borders since late March.
There has been a formal ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia-controlled militants since July 27, 2020, but Ukraine reports ceasefire violations almost every day. At least 51 soldiers have been killed in action in eastern Ukraine since the beginning of 2021.
The U.S. Department of Defense previously announced on June 11 that it will provide the Ukrainian military with a $150 million aid package “to preserve the country’s territorial integrity, secure its borders” and boost Ukraine’s cooperation with NATO.
Within the package, the Ukrainian army will receive better training and equipment like counter-artillery radars, counter-unmanned aerial systems, secure communications gear, and electronic warfare and military medical evacuation equipment.
Initially, the U.S. promised to give Ukraine $250 million in military assistance as a part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) but in March the U.S. Defense Department said that Ukraine would receive only $125 million because it hadn’t shown “sufficient progress on defense reforms.”
The $125 million military aid package included armed Mark VI patrol boats, counter-artillery radars, tactical equipment, support for satellite imagery and analysis capability, and equipment to support military medical treatment and combat evacuation procedures.
This package also included training, equipment and advisory efforts as a part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, designed to help Ukraine “preserve the country’s territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.”
The U.S. has invested over $2.5 billion in Ukraine’s security since 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and sparked a war in Donbas that has killed more than 14,000 people and displaced at least 1.5 million people.
