US Congress nears deal on extending $6 billion in Ukraine aid before expiration, Reuters reports
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U.S. Congress and the Biden administration are close to an agreement on a one-year extension of $5.8 billion in military aid for Ukraine before it expires at the end of September, Reuters reported on Sept. 19, citing two undisclosed sources.
The U.S. administration requested Congress to extend the remaining sum in the presidential drawdown authority (PDA), a key tool for supplying Ukraine with arms from Pentagon stocks, to prevent it from expiring by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Foreign military assistance is crucial for Kyiv as the all-out war with Russia stretches for two and half years, with Russian forces pushing hard in Ukraine's east.
There is bipartisan support in Congress to extend the PDA in a Continuing Resolution, a short-term emergency bill that U.S. lawmakers must pass within the next 11 days to avoid a government shutdown, Reuters wrote.
After the House of Representatives failed to pass a Republican-backed spending bill on Sept. 18 that did not include the PDA extension, the Democratic-led Senate said it would prepare a new bill to avert a shutdown.
The sources told Reuters that the Senate bill should include the prolongation of the Ukraine aid funds. It remains unclear whether Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who delayed a $61 billion aid bill for Kyiv for months earlier this year, will support it.
The $61 billion assistance package was eventually passed in April, allocating some $7.8 billion to the PDA and allowing the release of a number of defense aid tranches since then.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that while he is grateful for Congress's decision, the aid is nevertheless trickling down too slowly as Ukraine cannot equip even "four out of the 14 brigades" the country is mustering.
This is evidenced by the fact that the majority of the $7.8 billion in PDA allocated for this fiscal year remains unused.
A congressional aid told the Kyiv Independent that the delays are connected to domestic U.S. stock constraints and a "constant flexibility issue with each withdrawal" in a situation where the U.S. adapts to Ukraine's needs.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry also said in a comment for the Kyiv Independent that there is a "lack of the necessary weapons in the Pentagon's warehouses."
Washington unveiled its latest aid package worth $250 million during a Ramstein group meeting on Sept. 6. It included anti-air missiles, artillery shells, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, HIMARS missiles, and other assistance.
