By Steve Holland, Patricia Zengerle and Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters
With months left in office, President Joe Biden made a major commitment to Ukraine. Photo: AFP
US President Joe Biden announced more than US$8 billion (NZ$12.9b) in military assistance for Ukraine on Friday to help Kyiv repel Russian invaders, using a visit by President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a major commitment.
The aid includes the first shipment of a precision-guided glide bomb called the Joint Standoff Weapon, with a range of up to 130 km. The medium-range missile gives Ukraine a major upgrade to the weapons it is using to strike Russian forces, allowing the Ukrainians to do it at safer distances. The bomb, capable of striking targets with high accuracy, is to be dropped from fighter jets. Biden will not announce that Washington would let Ukraine use US missiles to hit targets deeper in Russia, a US official said.
"We're making clear that we stand with Ukraine now and in the future," Biden told reporters ahead of a bilateral meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office. He said the US would continue to help Ukraine strengthen its position on the battlefield, and that he had directed the Pentagon to allocate all remaining security funding by the end of his term in January.
Zelensky thanked Biden for his support and said it was important to secure Ukraine's future in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Zelensky has long sought NATO membership, but the allies have stopped short of taking that step.
The bulk of the new aid, US$5.5 billion, is to be allocated before Monday's end of the US fiscal year, when the funding authority is set to expire. Another US$2.4 billion is under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the administration to buy weapons for Ukraine from companies rather than pull them from US stocks.
This will provide Ukraine with additional air defence, unmanned aerial systems and air-to-ground munitions, as well as strengthen Ukraine's defence industrial base and support its maintenance and sustainment requirements, Biden said.
Under his plan, the president said, the Defense Department will refurbish and provide Ukraine with an additional Patriot air defence battery and more Patriot missiles.
Biden ordered the Pentagon to expand training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots, including by supporting the training of an additional 18 pilots next year.
Zelensky thanked Biden and the US Congress for the new military aid package, saying Ukraine would use it "in the most efficient and transparent manner".
"I am grateful to the United States for providing the items that are most critical to protecting our people," Zelensky said on X, mentioning the Patriot battery, drones and long-range missiles.
Republican criticism of Zelensky
To combat Russian sanctions evasion and money laundering, the US will act to disrupt what Biden called "a global cryptocurrency network, in coordination with international partners."
Biden said he will convene a leader-level meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany next month to coordinate efforts of more than 50 countries supporting Ukraine.
Before meeting Biden, Zelensky sat down with Democratic and Republican lawmakers at the Capitol. He talked with about two dozen senators from both parties for more than an hour, before a separate bipartisan session in the House of Representatives with about a dozen lawmakers.
"It was bipartisan, it was positive," Republican Representative Joe Wilson, a leader of the House Ukraine caucus, told reporters.
Congress has approved nearly US$175 billion of aid and military assistance for Ukraine and allied nations in the 2-1/2 years since Russia began its full-scale invasion, and many lawmakers say they expect Washington will need to approve more money to help Kyiv within the next several months.
The visit was much lower-profile than previous trips to Congress. The Senate and House left Washington on Wednesday night until after the 5 November presidential election.
Senator Dick Durbin said Zelensky had presented his plan for victory. "It's pretty basic, and that is to make sure that the Ukrainians have the momentum going forward, and that requires not only personnel, but equipment and supplies to finish the job," Durbin told reporters.
Ukraine's defence has largely received bipartisan support in the US, but his government has faced rising criticism from some Republican leaders, including Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
Trump has criticised the Ukrainian president as he campaigns for the 5 November election and, at least for now, turned down a request from Zelensky for a meeting.
The former president was critical of Zelensky on Wednesday, telling a campaign rally in North Carolina, "We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelensky."
Trump also blamed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic presidential opponent, for allowing Russia's invasion.
Many congressional Republicans have been furious about Zelensky's visit on Sunday to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Biden grew up. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into Zelensky's trip.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who did not meet Zelensky on Thursday, demanded that he fire his ambassador to Washington for planning the Scranton trip, although he told reporters this demand was not a threat to oppose military aid.
- Reuters