US Announces $500 Million Arms Package for Ukraine

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The Biden administration prepared the arms and equipment for the package under the presidential drawdown authority.

The Department of Defense announced another $500 million in arms and military support for Ukraine on Jan. 9.

The arms package includes RIM-7 surface-to-air missiles, as well as AIM-7 and AIM-9M air-to-air missiles, which the Pentagon said would be used to bolster Ukraine’s air defense capabilities in the war with Russia.

The Pentagon said the new round of military support also includes unspecified air-to-ground munitions and equipment for Ukraine’s small fleet of Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets.

Other items in the package include armored bridging systems, small arms and ammunition, communications equipment, and other spare parts and ancillary equipment.

The package will also cover transportation, training, and servicing costs for the military equipment that the United States has provided Ukraine throughout the war.

The Biden administration prepared the arms and equipment for the package under the presidential drawdown authority (PDA).

The PDA allows the president to quickly authorize a drawdown of weapons and equipment from existing U.S. military stocks, up to a certain replacement-cost dollar amount set by Congress.

The United States has allocated around $175 billion in Ukraine-related aid in preparation against and in response to the 2022 Russian invasion.

This spending has covered direct military and financial support for Ukraine’s government, as well as ancillary expenditures and efforts to bolster the eastern edge of NATO.

Congress appropriated about $61 billion of this aid in April, and the Biden administration has been working to spend that appropriation since.

Jan. 9’s arms package announcement marks the 74th time the Biden administration has used the PDA to arm and equip Ukraine’s military since August 2021, just months before the current stage of conflict between Russia and Ukraine began.

It may also be one of the last arms transfers the Biden administration can provide for Ukraine before the president leaves office on Jan. 20.

President-elect Donald Trump has signaled a preference to negotiate an end to the fighting, leaving some to speculate to what degree the United States will continue to support Ukraine.

The arms package leaves just under $4 billion in appropriated Ukraine-related funds to be allocated.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin joined his international counterparts in Ramstein, Germany, on Jan. 9 for the 25th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Austin helped lead the group’s formation in the weeks after the Russian invasion, to coordinate the donations of Western nations backing the Ukrainian war effort.

“We still face major challenges ahead, but as a founder of this contact group, I am very proud of the way that our allies and partners have stepped up,” Austin said in remarks following the Jan. 9 meeting.

Trump criticized some of the outgoing Biden administration’s foreign policy decisions in Time magazine’s 2024 Person of the Year interview last month, including moves to permit more expansive Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil.

Still, Trump indicated he would not cut off U.S. support for Ukraine in his push for a settlement.

“I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon,” Trump said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.