US President Joe Biden's Government Plans To Speed Up Aid To Ukraine Before Lengser

Illustration of sending US military aid to Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/US Army/Capt. Angelo Mejia/5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

JAKARTA - The White House plans to immediately provide billions of dollars worth of security assistance to Ukraine before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, sources said on Wednesday.

The move is expected to strengthen the government in Kyiv before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, 2025.

"The government plans to move forward to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position," said a senior government official who did not want to be named, before his term ends in January.

Trump is known to have criticized President Biden's government for Ukraine, sparking concerns about the future of support for President Volodomyr Zelensky's government under the White House, Senate, and possibly Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Trump, who is paired with JD Vance of the Republican Party, managed to collect more than 270 electoral votes, the minimum limit for winning the US Presidential Election, outperforming his opponent incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris who was paired with the Democratic Walz Team.

The House of Representatives has been strictly controlled by Republicans since January 2023, but it was not clear on Wednesday afternoon whether the party had won enough seats in Tuesday's election to prevent Democrats from winning a narrow majority.

Republican-controlled House of Representatives last approved aid to Ukraine, including the authority for President Biden to transfer billions of dollars worth of weapons from US stock, in April, eight months after Biden first requested additional help, with more support from Democrats than Republicans.

From the arms transfer authority passed in April, the remaining $4.3 billion, in addition to $2.8 billion in transfers approved by lawmakers in previous spending measures and $2 billion in funding for new arms purchases from the industry.

In total, the $9 billion military aid would be a significant boost to Ukraine's supply.

The Biden Administration's plans for the transfer were first reported by Politico. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US will continue to send ammunition and anti-tank weapons such as Javelin to Ukraine in the coming months. To help Ukraine retake its territory in a land war with Russia, more ground vehicles will be needed, as well as 155mm artillery made by General Dynamics Corp.

Ukraine should have received more surface-to-surface rockets of the GMLRS, which have been used intensively by the HIMARS dual rocket launch system.

Analysts say Washington has no guarantee it will support further aid for Ukraine after the Republicans take control of the White House and at least half of Congress, especially as Ukraine is experiencing setbacks on the battlefield.

"That will be a problem when you continue additional funding for Ukraine, which will one day be needed," said Scott Anderson, a researcher in a governance study at the Brookings Institution.

Separately, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell refused to discuss aid for Ukraine at Wednesday's press conference, saying he was there to discuss the election results.

It is known that while running for the 2024 presidential election, Trump stressed Russian President Vladimir Putin would never invade Ukraine by 2022 if he was still in office, adding he "could finish the war there within 24 hours."

Trump told Reuters last year Kyiv may have to hand over his territory to reach a peace agreement, something Ukraine refused and President Biden never suggested.

The elected vice president, US Senator J.D. Vance, has been a vocal critic of Ukraine's aid, stating that government funding would be better used for domestic priority.