Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced that the United States is increasing its military assistance to Ukraine by $2.3 billion, according to an Associated Press report on Austin’s meeting with visiting Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
The increased aid will source $150 million from the presidential drawdown authority allowing the Department of Defense to use its stocks for quicker delivery to Ukraine. The rest of the additional support will be secured through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative enabling longer-term arms supply contracts.
One of the recent U.S. arms support to Ukraine came in Washington’s emergency approval of a $30 million request purchase from Kyiv for three High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems sourced from Germany, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency announcement.
U.S. military support for Ukraine “will never waver,” Austin stressed. “Alongside some 50 allies and partners, we’ll continue to provide critical capabilities that Ukraine needs to push back Russian aggression today and to deter Russian aggression tomorrow,” he added.
Austin also told Umerov in their meeting that the United States will support Ukraine’s bid for membership in NATO, which will hold a summit meeting in Washington from July 9 to 11.