US preparing $1B weapons package for Ukraine

Lee Hudson, Lara Seligman and Nahal Toosi
·2 min read
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The Biden administration is preparing a roughly $1 billion package of military aid for Ukraine, as the Senate is poised to pass a bill to provide urgently needed funding for Kyiv, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

The tranche will include artillery, air defenses and armored vehicles — Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as well as potentially older Humvees and M113 armored personnel carriers POLITICO first reported on Monday. The Pentagon is still putting the finishing touches on the package, but the total will be roughly $1 billion, said the people, one of whom is a U.S. official. Both were granted anonymity to speak ahead of an announcement.

The package the U.S. is working on is significantly larger than the most recent tranche of weapons authorized for Ukraine in March, which totaled $300 million. That was only the second package the Defense Department was able to send Kyiv since December, when it ran out of funding to support the war effort.

The Senate put its recess on hold to vote Tuesday to begin votes on legislation that would provide $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan in total.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign the Senate bill, which includes more than $60 billion in funding for Ukraine, into law quickly after it passes. Defense Department officials have said they expect to send equipment to Ukraine quickly after that, although a large portion of the funding will go toward replenishing stocks in the U.S.

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on the contents of the aid package. But Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesperson, said last week that new weapons could arrive in Ukraine as soon as days to weeks after the legislation passes.

POLITICO also reported on Saturday that the U.S. is mulling sending up to 60 additional military advisers to the embassy in Kyiv to help with oversight of weapons transfers, logistics and advising the Ukrainian government.

Reuters first reported that the next package will be roughly $1 billion.