November 27, 2024 17:30 GMT
SECURITY: Biden Admin Unlikely To Use Entire Funding Allocation For Ukraine
SECURITY
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The Wall Street Journal reports that the Biden administration is unlikely to have sufficient time to complete thetransfer of all remaining Ukraine funds before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Janaury 20, leaving the incoming administration with discretion over potentially billions of unspent funds.
- The Journal notes: "The Pentagon has reached the limit of the weapons it can send Ukraine each month without affecting its own fighting capability, however, and is facing logistical challenges in getting the arms to Kyiv’s forces, they said." A Congressional official told the Journal that shipping around USD$3 billion in outstanding funds available in presidential drawdown authority would likely be "impossible."
- The report notes: "What Trump decides to do with the remaining money will have implications for the battlefield and could help determine how much leverage Kyiv has going into any potential peace negotiations with Russia. Trump has said he would end the war, and U.S. officials worry that his incoming administration could choose to withhold weapons to get Kyiv to the negotiating table."
- A senior White House official told reporters today that the Ukrainians, “now have healthy stockpiles of the vital tools, ammunition and weapons that they need to succeed on the battlefield... the most pressing challenge for Ukraine is manpower."
- Michael Kofmanat the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace thinktank, said that the remaining funds “offer the next administration considerable leverage to stop or suspend shipments to Ukraine.”
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