The White House announced on Tuesday that despite the military being severely overdrawn and requiring at least $10 billion to replenish all the weapons it has taken out of stock to aid Kyiv in its desperate battle with Russia, the Pentagon will send about $300 million worth of weapons to the country as soon as it finds some cost savings in its contracts. The announcement of the security package for Ukraine is the first from the Pentagon since December, when it admitted that it was running low on replenishment funding. Officials did not openly admit they were $10 billion overdrawn, not only out of replenishment money, until recently, according to the AP.
The situation in Ukraine has become worse, with front-line soldiers having to ration ammunition while fighting a Russian army that is much better equipped. National security advisor Jake Sullivan said, "Ukraine does not have enough ammunition to fire back when Russian troops advance and its guns fire."
The statement coincides with the House's attempts to get more funding for weapons having stagnated due to resistance from Republicans. For months, US officials have maintained that unless Congress approved further replenishment funds—which are a part of a substantial supplemental package that has been stuck in Congress—the US would not be allowed to begin weaponry delivery.
With the help of the replenishment funds, the Pentagon was able to send to Ukraine current munitions, air defense systems, and other weapons that it had on hand under the presidential drawdown authority, or PDA. After that, it was able to place contracts for the replacement of those weapons, which were necessary to preserve US military readiness.
The Pentagon has also been able to finance longer-term contracts with industry to build new weaponry for Ukraine thanks to the USAI, or Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Speaking with reporters, senior military officials said that the Pentagon was able to extract savings of around $300 million from some of those longer-term contracts and chose to utilize those savings to deliver additional weapons because of the state of the battlefield.
According to one of the sources, the package was a "one-time shot" unless more cost reductions were discovered or Congress approved the supplemental budget measure, which contains almost $60 billion in military assistance for Ukraine.
The situation in Ukraine has become worse, with front-line soldiers having to ration ammunition while fighting a Russian army that is much better equipped. National security advisor Jake Sullivan said, "Ukraine does not have enough ammunition to fire back when Russian troops advance and its guns fire."
The statement coincides with the House's attempts to get more funding for weapons having stagnated due to resistance from Republicans. For months, US officials have maintained that unless Congress approved further replenishment funds—which are a part of a substantial supplemental package that has been stuck in Congress—the US would not be allowed to begin weaponry delivery.
With the help of the replenishment funds, the Pentagon was able to send to Ukraine current munitions, air defense systems, and other weapons that it had on hand under the presidential drawdown authority, or PDA. After that, it was able to place contracts for the replacement of those weapons, which were necessary to preserve US military readiness.
The Pentagon has also been able to finance longer-term contracts with industry to build new weaponry for Ukraine thanks to the USAI, or Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Speaking with reporters, senior military officials said that the Pentagon was able to extract savings of around $300 million from some of those longer-term contracts and chose to utilize those savings to deliver additional weapons because of the state of the battlefield.
According to one of the sources, the package was a "one-time shot" unless more cost reductions were discovered or Congress approved the supplemental budget measure, which contains almost $60 billion in military assistance for Ukraine.
