Ukraine Supporters Should Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is
December was a good month for President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. First he was selected by Time magazine as Person of the Year. Then he was asked to address a joint session of Congress. And then he was promised more money for Ukraine.
How much more?
U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, have both said that the United States would support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.” President Biden has said the same thing.
Because of the different metrics used, and differences between total aid committed and actual aid supplied, how much Ukraine has been given and how much more it will be given is not exactly easy to figure out.
According to a report (updated Dec. 7) by the Congressional Research Service on “U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine”:
From 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, through November 23, 2022, the United States has provided approximately $21.8 billion in security assistance “to help Ukraine preserve its territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve interoperability with NATO.” Of this amount, the Biden Administration has committed more than $19 billion in security assistance since the start of the 2022 war.
Especially since 2021, the United States has been providing defense items to Ukraine via Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), by which the President can authorize the immediate transfer of articles and services from U.S. stocks, up to a funding cap established in law, in response to an “unforeseen emergency” (22 U.S.C. §2318(a)(1)). Since August 2021, the Biden Administration has authorized 26 drawdowns valued at $11.7 billion.
The German Kiel Institute puts U.S. military, humanitarian, and financial support to Ukraine from January 24 to November 20 at $47.9 billion.
What we do know is that in 2022, the U.S. government authorized to be given to Ukraine $13.6 billion in March as part of the fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending bill, $40 billion in May in a standalone bill
Article from LewRockwell
