The US State Department has released $141,5 million in security assistance, including money for sniper rifles and grenade launchers, as well as another $250 million from the US Department of Defense, which was blocked by the Trump administration, for Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This was announced by Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Clark Cooper, writes Defense News. He clarified that the decision of Congress was announced on the evening of September 11, local time. These funds can be used 15 days after notification unless there is an objection.
“The State Department has assessed further opportunities for foreign military funding and additional opportunities in the countering Russian aggression program accounts. We also provide support for the destruction and reduction of conventional weapons and weapons storage. So there is a whole range of security assistance that we have outlined and identified for Ukraine,” Cooper said.
During a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee (the upper house of the US Congress), Senator Lindsey Graham said that funding for Ukraine from the United States Department of Defense could also be extended. He added that Ukraine “will receive the money.”
The release of military aid funds by the White House was confirmed by the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States. The money should go towards defensive weapons for our state. The day before, the American head initiated a review of the funds in order, as the White House explained, to make sure that the funds are used in accordance with the interests of the United States. Because of this, their allocation was temporarily suspended.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has already thanked the administration of US President Donald Trump and Congress for supporting the decision to provide security assistance to Ukraine.
“I am grateful to the United States for unblocking military assistance to Ukraine and for its continued support of our sovereignty and territorial integrity. The United States reaffirmed its strategic partnership with Ukraine. We continue to work together!” Zelensky wrote on his Twitter page.
However, some Democratic congressmen associated this with Trump’s possible attempt to put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities in order to force them to side with the current president during the upcoming presidential elections in the United States and transfer dirt on the leader of the right wing of the Democrats, former Vice President Joe Biden, to Washington. Kiev political expert Ruslan Bortnik shares the same opinion. as PolitNavigator previously reported.
Earlier it was reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump was delaying the allocation of $250 million in military assistance to Ukraine. The White House has asked his national security team to review the funding program known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to make sure the money is being used to benefit the United States, Politico reported, citing an unnamed senior Trump administration official.