Biden approves $500M Ukraine security package 11 days before Trump takes office

The Biden administration on Thursday announced an additional $500 million of military aid to Ukraine in a security package rushed out the door before President-elect Trump takes office.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the final time at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he made the announcement. Both officials used the occasion to urge the incoming Trump administration to continue to support Kyiv’s fight against Russia.

‘If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,’ Austin warned at the 25th meeting of about 50 member nations who have joined forces to support Ukraine with an estimated $122 billion in weapons and support.

‘If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests, and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war.’

The latest U.S. security assistance to Ukraine includes missiles for fighter jets, support equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems, small arms and ammunition and other spare parts and communications equipment.

The weapons package is funded by the presidential drawdown authority (PDA), meaning the weapons will come from U.S. stockpiles, expediting their delivery to Ukraine. 

Officials noted this is the Biden administration’s seventy-fourth tranche of equipment to be provided from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021. 

This latest package leaves about $3.85 billion in funding to provide future arms shipments to Ukraine; if the Biden administration makes no further announcements, that balance will be available to Trump to send if he chooses.

Zelensky pleaded for the next administration to continue U.S. support for his country’s defensive war against Russian invaders. 

‘We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased of the map.’

Member nations of the coalition supporting Kyiv, including the U.S., have ramped up weapons production since the Ukraine war exposed that stockpiles were inadequate for a major conventional land war.

The U.S. has provided about $66 billion of the total aid since February 2022 and has been able to deliver most of that total — between 80% and 90% — already to Ukraine.

‘Retreat will only provide incentives for more imperial aggression,’ Austin said Thursday. ‘And if we flinch, you can count on Putin to push further and punch harder. Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is the security of Europe, the United States, and the world.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.