The Biden administration does not have enough time to use all the funds approved by Congress to help Ukraine – WSJ

According to the WSJ, the Biden administration still has more than $6.5 billion with which the US Department of Defense can transfer weapons and equipment to Ukraine from its own stockpiles. However, US officials have noted that the Pentagon has reached the limit of what it can deliver to Ukraine each month without compromising its own combat capabilities and is facing “logistical difficulties” in delivering weapons to Ukrainian forces.

According to a congressional representative, in order to spend the remaining funds on time, the US would have to send more than $110 million worth of weapons every day, or less than $3 billion in December and January.

“The remaining funds give the next administration significant leverage to stop or suspend supplies to Ukraine…The first task of the Trump administration [майбутнього президента США] will decide what to do with the remaining equipment and how best to prepare a new request to Congress for additional funding,” said Michael Cofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The WSJ notes that a representative for Trump’s team did not respond to a request for comment on the fate of the remaining funds.

One of the senior officials of the US Department of Defense stated that the Pentagon currently plans to transfer $500 to $750 million worth of weapons to Ukraine each month from its stockpiles. This is more than the average volume of deliveries in previous months.

“We are already running out of readily available supplies that you can just take off the shelf and ship,” said a senior Pentagon official.

Journalists said that the White House, which two weeks ago assured that it would be able to transfer all the funds to Ukraine before the end of Biden’s term, now abandons this statement and emphasizes that the main problem of Ukraine is not weapons, but people.

“Ukrainians now have a significant stockpile of the vital tools, ammunition and weapons they need to succeed on the battlefield. Today, the most pressing challenge for Ukraine is human resources,” said the White House official.

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On November 8, the Pentagon announced that they plan to use all available funds for Ukraine support programs until the end of Joe Biden’s presidential term. It is about 6 billion dollars.

On November 26, The Washington Post newspaper reported that Biden is trying to strengthen Ukraine’s position before the newly elected leader of the country, Donald Trump, takes office.

It was noted that Biden’s recent decisions to allow Ukraine to launch missile strikes deep into Russian territory with American weapons and provide anti-personnel mines “were dictated by a harsh new reality” that could put it in its weakest position in nearly three years of a major war.

On November 27, Biden proposed that Congress approve additional funding in the amount of $24 billion to increase aid to Ukraine.