BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States announced on Dec. 27 that it would provide Ukraine with another $2$500 million in military aid, while urging Congress to approve new aid funding for Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman Galen Gahn said in a statement on the same day that the above-mentioned military aid will use the "right to use" to transfer **equipment from US military stockpiles to Ukraine, including aviation ammunition, anti-aircraft ammunition, artillery, anti-armor systems, explosives and medical equipment. The Pentagon has run out of funds to replenish the shortfall in its own stockpiles caused by aid to Ukraine, and the Ukraine Security Assistance Program, which aims to provide long-term funding for arms procurement contracts, has also run out of funds.
This is the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 20. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie.
Without additional funding, Garn said, "there will be a gap in replenishing U.S. military stockpiles, which in turn will affect U.S. military readiness."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Congress on the 27th to "act quickly and quickly" to approve new aid to Ukraine.
According to the Associated Press, this is the 54th batch of military aid to Ukraine taken from US military stocks. Joseph Biden, a Democrat, is seeking congressional approval for a $110 billion foreign aid package, including $61.4 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Defense lowered the total amount of military aid it had used, citing valuation errors, and reinstated about $4.2 billion in "right to draw." If this part of the quota is not restored, according to **, as of May 17 this year, only $2.7 billion remained in the budget approved by Congress for "** withdrawal rights", and the remaining quota may be used up in July or August.
This is the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on October 11. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie.
Although the United States and the United States emphasized the importance and urgency of military aid to Ukraine, congressional Republicans used aid to Ukraine as a bargaining chip with Democrats and demanded that immigration policies be tightened. The two sides are at a stalemate. According to Reuters, Republicans have not approved new aid to Ukraine since they began to control the House of Representatives in January this year.
The White House and Democrats tried unsuccessfully this month to reach a compromise with Republicans in the Senate before their year-end vacation. Congress has begun a vacation and is scheduled to resume on January 8 next year, according to Agence France-Presse, when immigration policy is expected to remain the focus of bipartisan contention.
According to the Financial Times 27**, Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Sviritenko said that if the United States and the European Union fail to fulfill their aid commitments to Ukraine early next year, Ukraine may be forced to delay the payment of the salaries of about 500,000 civil servants and 1.4 million teachers, as well as the pensions of about 10 million people.
In addition to the $61.4 billion "card" promised by the United States in Congress, the EU's plan to aid Ukraine of 50 billion euros in four years was also vetoed by Hungary in the middle of this month. The EU intends to convene a summit of leaders early next year to try to convince Hungary, while seeking to provide Ukraine with about 20 billion euros bypassing Hungary.
Sviritenko said Ukraine needs $37 billion in external funding next year and hopes that EU funding will be available by the end of March next year, but this is "still not enough." (Ocean).
*:Xinhua.