US Government Running Out Of Cash for Ukraine

 By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies

The US government needs Congress to approve its $33 billion request as soon as possible because it only has $250 million remaining from the previous package of assistance for Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki disclosed.

US President Joe Biden signed the request on Thursday. He admitted that $33 billion “is not cheap” but claimed that “caving to aggression is going to be more costly.”

During a press briefing on the same day, Psaki was asked what the deadline was for when the government “absolutely needs” the new funding. She responded that the “need is urgent, as is the need for Covid funding urgent.”

“As you know, we had $3.5 billion in military security assistance. We have about $250 million of that left in drawdown. So, obviously, we will work to expedite that and provide that to the Ukrainians,” the spokeswoman said.

She emphasized that to provide Kiev with “the weapons they need, the artillery they need, the equipment they need,” getting new funding was “certainly urgent.”

Meanwhile, both the Republicans and Democrats said that $33 billion might not come through quickly as there were many issues that needed to be sorted out. CNN reported sources said Democrats were aiming to pass the package by the end of May, but Republicans indicated they would need some time to consider more carefully what to include in the bill.

The White House’s request for additional funding came on the day NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance was getting prepared to support Kiev “for months and years” as the conflict with Russia might last. He also revealed NATO aimed to help Ukraine move “from old Soviet-era equipment to more modern NATO standard weapons and systems.”

These statements came soon after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Western countries had finally begun to provide Kiev with the types of weapons it asked for.

Moscow, in turn, has consistently warned the West against “pumping up” Ukraine with weapons, arguing that such actions would only lead to a prolongation of military actions and would create longstanding problems in the future. The Kremlin also made it clear that any military hardware deliveries would be considered a legitimate target once they crossed into Ukraine.