U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced another $2.8 billion in defense aid for Ukraine during an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday.
Blinken met with senior Ukrainian officials including President Zelensky, a Sept. 8 AP News report said.
“I have directed a $675 million drawdown of arms and equipment from @DeptofDefense stockpiles for Ukraine, as well as an additional $2.2 billion to support long-term defense investments in Ukraine and 18 neighbors,” Blinken said in a tweet. “The United States continues to be #UnitedWithUkraine,”
The new funding and military weapons will provide training for a counteroffensive launched by Ukrainian troops to retake territory that Russia gained control of in the south and east.
This latest aid will be the country's 20th drawdown of U.S arms and equipment for Ukraine since September 2021, a Sept. 8 State Department press release said. Blinken noted that $675 million of the drawdown will include “additional arms, munitions, and equipment from U.S Department of Defense inventories.”
The State Department will notify Congress of the intent to provide an additional $2.2 billion for “long-term investments under Foreign Military Financing to bolster Ukraine and 17 of its neighbors,” the secretary said in the release. This additional funding will bring the total U.S military assistance to Ukraine to $15.2 billion since the start of the Biden administration.
The Biden administration plans to send approximately $1 billion to Ukraine once Congress approves the disbursements, with the rest divided amongst its neighbors; AP News said. Those countries include Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
