US expects to announce new weapons aid for Ukraine as Congress is stalled on more funding

2025-01-13 02:12:43 source:lotradecoin trading signals and analysis category:Invest

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is expected to announce a $175 million package of military aid to Ukraine on Wednesday, including guided missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), anti-armor systems and high-speed anti-radiation missiles, according to U.S. officials.

The latest aid comes as Congress remains stalled on legislation that would provide new funding for Ukraine as it battles to push back Russian forces, as well as money for Israel’s war with Hamas and other security needs. The Biden administration has said funding to aid Ukraine is running out, and the Pentagon packages of weapons and other equipment for the war have become much smaller in recent months.

The White House is seeking nearly $106 billion, but the bill has gotten bogged down in negotiations over border security and because of increasing reluctance from Republican lawmakers to approve significant spending on the Ukraine war. GOP lawmakers are insisting on policy changes to halt the flow of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border as a condition for the assistance.

As part of the push to break the deadlock, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was scheduled to address U.S. senators by video Tuesday, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he had to cancel his appearance.

Other news US files war crime charges against Russians accused of torturing an American in the Ukraine invasion House Speaker Johnson is insisting on sweeping border security changes in a deal for Ukraine aid Former DEA informant pleads guilty in 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president

The latest weapons package will be provided through presidential drawdown authority, or PDA, which pulls weapons from existing U.S. stockpiles and sends them quickly to the war front, said U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not yet been publicly announced.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Tuesday there is about $1.1 billion left in funding to replenish U.S. military stockpiles for weapons and equipment sent to Ukraine. And he said there is roughly $4.8 billion in drawdown authority still available.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on Wednesday afternoon.

Although the war has been static along most of its more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line as wintry weather has set in, both sides have continued to launch airstrikes. Ukraine is working to keep up the pressure over the winter, in order to prevent Russia from solidifying battle lines.

U.S. officials said the new aid will also include AIM-9M and AIM-7 missiles for air defense; artillery rounds, vehicles to tow equipment, demolition munitions and other missiles and more than 4 million rounds of ammunition.

More:Invest

Recommend

Most reports ordered by California’s Legislature this year are shown as missing

California lawmakers pass nearly 1,000 new lawseach year. How do they know whether they are working?

Maryland angler wins world-record $6.2 million by catching 640-pound blue marlin

On the fifth and final day of the 50th White Marlin Open, a fisherman landed the first and only qual

AP gets rare glimpse of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai

HONG KONG (AP) — Jimmy Lai, a former newspaper publisher and one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-d