The U.S. government is allocating new assistance to Ukraine worth more than $1 billion, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Sept. 6.
Blinken also said for the first time that the U.S. will fund support for Ukrainian military veterans from "assets seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs," saying that those who "enabled Putin's war of aggression should pay for it."
The U.S. authorized the transfer of forfeited Russian assets to Ukraine in May 2023.
Blinken said the $1 billion in assistance includes a new package of $665.5 million in military and civilian security assistance.
One hundred million dollars will go toward "foreign military financing to support Ukraine's longer term military needs" and another $300 million is earmarked for supporting Ukrainian law enforcement in liberated areas of the country.
The U.S. is also committing $206 million for humanitarian assistance, "much of which is dedicated to helping the more than six million Ukrainians who are displaced by Russia's war," Blinken.
He also mentioned the assistance includes the $175 million weapons package announced by the Defense Department on Sept. 6.
The Defense Department package includes air defense equipment and depleted uranium rounds for Abrams tanks, which will arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks.
"Those who have enabled Putin's war of aggression should also pay for it," he said.
The U.S. has committed over $43 billion in security assistance since the start of the full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022, Blinken said.
Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Sept. 6 for a two-day trip, which marks the fourth time he has visited Ukraine since Feb. 2022.
Igor Kossov
