A Marine Corps M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System conducts an emergency fire mission Aug. 29, 2021, during Exercise Koolendong at Bradshaw Field Training Area, NT, Australia. (Colton K. Garrett/U.S. Marine Corps)
WASHINGTON — U.S. officials said Tuesday that uncovered cost savings from defense contracts will allow the Pentagon to send new military aid to Ukraine worth up to $300 million, the first supply of weapons and ammunition sent to the worn-torn country in three months.
“This ammunition will keep Ukraine’s guns firing for a period, but only a short period,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. “It is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs, and it will not prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition in the weeks to come.”
The aid is expected to include anti-aircraft missiles, artillery rounds and armor systems, the official said.
The Pentagon has not been able to provide Ukraine with more weapons and ammunition since its last aid package of $250 million in December. The U.S. has participated in two Ukraine Contact Defense Group meetings in 2024, but it has not been able to contribute any additional aid.
The new military aid comes as Congress stalls its approval of President Joe Biden’s supplemental funding request for additional support for Ukraine. Military aid has been delayed for months as Republicans and Democrats spar about the funding, largely over measures to curb migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Democrat-controlled Senate managed to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package in February that included $60 billion for Ukraine. But in the House, where Republicans hold the majority, funding for more aid is at an impasse.
The supplemental funding would also allow the U.S. military to restore some of a roughly $10 billion hole in its own munitions stockpiles caused by sending aid to Ukraine, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks said Monday when the department released the fiscal 2025 budget proposal.
Senior defense officials said Tuesday that the Pentagon was able to find cost savings of roughly $300 million in earlier Ukraine contracts and decided to use those savings to send more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine now. The officials said the cost savings basically offset the new package.
“When we get funding from Congress to replenish things that we have given, or will give, Ukraine, that means we can use them to fill the hole or if there is [a] new drawdown we can at least keep even,” a senior defense official said.
The official said the Pentagon is not considering any further drawdown packages at this time.
This is the second time in less than a year that the Pentagon has uncovered money to use for additional weapons shipments to Ukraine. In June, defense officials said they had overestimated the value of the weapons that the U.S. had sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion in the past two years.
Previous aid has been provided through presidential drawdown authorities, where equipment is pulled from existing U.S. military stocks and sent to Ukraine on an emergency basis, or long-term assistance to procure weapons and munitions from the defense industry or partner countries for a later time.
The U.S. has provided more than $44 billion in aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, which has stretched into its third year.
Items in the military aid package include:
Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.
Dual-purpose improved conventional munition rounds.
155mm and 105mm artillery rounds.
Cluster munitions.
Additional rounds of small-arms ammunition.
Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing.
AT4 anti-armor systems.
Spare parts, maintenance and other ancillary equipment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
