US announces nearly $1 billion more in longer-term weapons support for Ukraine

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 4:41 PM EST, December 7, 2024


SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — The United States will provide nearly $1 billion more in longer-term weapons support to Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday as the Biden administration rushes to spend all the congressionally approved money it has left to bolster Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.

The latest package will include more drones and munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that the U.S. has provided. While these weapons are critically needed now, they will be funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for longer-term systems to be put on contract.

The weapon systems purchased are often intended to support Ukraine’s future military capabilities, not make an immediate difference on the battlefield.

The nearly $1 billion package is on top of an additional $725 million in U.S. military assistance, including counter-drone systems and HIMARS munitions, announced Monday that would be drawn from the Pentagon’s stockpiles to more quickly get to the front lines. The U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $62 billion in military aid since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-weapons-russia-trump-biden-himars-zelenskyy-7b2560ad6bd54a6275da0ceb5241c0e8

[Evolve Dammit]

1. Message approved

[keithbvadu2]

2. Can Donald cancel said contract........ and forward it to Vlad?

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Congress appropriated the money

and the Biden administration is trying to spend it down per the funding legislation.

[4catsmom]

4. please get it to the Ukraine before

Putin's employee of the month takes over

[kimbutgar]

5. I'd love for the Biden administration to allot all fed funds now

afor education, health and other social programs and when the orange Hitler gets in he'll have to make congress approve more funds.

[iluvtennis]

6. Awesome news! n/t

[paleotn]

7. Ship it all. Ship it all now.

[surfered]

8. It's hard to pin down which weapons are manufactured where, but...

…a lot are being made at plants in red states.

[AZ8theist]

9. Oh well....

If those contracts dry up and MAGATs lose their jobs.......well, boo whoo.

That's what the MAGATs wanted.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. The US is getting a great return on its investment

Link to tweet

[Aussie105]

11. " The U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $62 billion in military aid since Russia's invasion in February 2022."

This is why Americans can't have nice things, like an education system that actually educates, a health system that is focussed on health, and can't do anything about getting gun violence down.

But America has decided that it will defend Ukraine (and Israel) whatever it takes, so there is that.

Just remember who is paying the price. (Look in the mirror.)

[pazzyanne]

12. Sad! nt

[tavernier]

13. We don't have nice things for a variety of reasons.

Our support of Ukraine and Eastern Europe is way down the list. If you’re looking for the real reason, the needle repeatedly points to a republican Congress.

[EX500rider]

14. "This is why Americans can't have nice things," doubtful

62 billion in 3 years in only around 20 billion a year, the US Defense budget was 916 billion in 2023.

In the 2022 fiscal year, the total amount spent on public K-12 education in the United States was $857 billion.

In 2022, the total amount spent on healthcare in the United States was $4.5 trillion.

I don't think 20 billion would have moved the needle much on those. YMMV

[cadoman]

15. what good is all that for the democracies of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia?

Who were forced to participate in fraudulent referendums that forced them to join a fascist state? How does our democracy have any weight when theirs is lost while we stood idle?

When Ukraine falls, what stops Russia from taking christofascism to all of Europe? France?

[Montauk6]

16. Get it all in, I guess...

Before Daddy Whorebucks, Squeal-On-Muskrat, and Vividvideo Scamyermommy put the kibosh to the whole dang thang.