White House to send $300 million in new aid to Ukraine, bypassing Congress

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The Biden administration will send a new $300 million aid package to Ukraine, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.

The arms shipment is the first in months to Kyiv and will include anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition, artillery rounds and armored vehicles, Mr. Sullivan told reporters at the daily White House press briefing.

Mr. Sullivan’s announcement comes as Republican lawmakers have blocked President Biden’s request for a $60 billion package in supplemental aid. Some Republicans including former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, say the U.S. has already sent too much money to Ukraine while funds are needed at home to secure the U.S. border.

Mr. Sullivan said the Biden administration was able to scratch up the cash through recent cost savings on purchases by the Pentagon.

Still, Mr. Sullivan said the relatively minor aid package isn’t enough and called on Congress to pass more aid “as soon as possible.”

“This ammunition will keep Ukraine’s guns firing for a period, but only a short period,” he said. “This should not replace the bipartisan national security bill.”

At the Pentagon, Defense Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said U.S. officials had cobbled together the $300 million from several contracts to replace U.S. military stockpiles that came in under bid, adding that the shipments won’t undercut America’s own  military readiness.

But he added that scraped-together package was “nowhere near enough” to meet Ukraine’s needs in the face of recent Russian advances on the long front stretching across eastern and southern Ukraine. Kyiv has said a shortage of Western-supplied ammunition has hobbled its forces in the field in the face of Russian advances.

“The only way to meet Ukraine’s battlefield need is for Congress to swiftly pass the supplemental,” Maj. Gen. Ryder told reporters.

The administration has increasingly pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, to bring the aid bill, which also includes funding for Israel and Taiwan, to the floor for a vote.

The last drawdown from the U.S. was in December, when funds to replenish stocks fell to zero.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. has sent about $75 billion in military and humanitarian assistance.

— Staff writer Mike Glenn contributed to this report.