US is looking to give Ukraine weapons for a record $ 8 billion but there is a nuance - Forbes

However, as the media writes, the promised weapon will not come to Ukraine quickly. "What Americans plan to do essentially to promise help during the year - instead of providing it in small parties every few weeks. . The deployment of help was preceded by a complex policy. When the US Congress finally approved Ukraine with $ 61 billion in April, the Presidential Administration quickly started spending the most "flexible money" within this funding.

Consistent assistance parties included urgently necessary artillery ammunition and air defense missiles. "Flexible money" fall under the so -called "presidential powers on the withdrawal of funds" or PDA. This spending capacity allows the President to send surpluses to US military systems to the Union country in the short term, but only if the President reports Congress and then replace the weapons sent with new weapons paid from PDA.

PDA is only one of the budget authorities that the White House uses to send weapons to Ukraine. The administration also attracts a separate pool of money as part of the security assistance initiative in Ukraine, which pays US contractors for the creation of a completely new weapon - for months or years - and delivering it to Ukraine when it is ready. PDA -funded weapon, but comes quickly. The weapon funded by USAI is new, but is supplied slowly.

Since 2022, Congress has approved $ 33 billion to fund USAI and $ 46 billion per PDA. Currently, the White House has spent the first $ 26 billion and almost 40 billion on the second. "The problem with current PDA financing is that under the law its validity ends at the end of 2024 of the financial year - September 30. Congress may extend this term through legislation, but in the House of Representatives of US Republicans who are friendly to Russia and hostile to Ukraine.

To make extension politically difficult, especially given that a few weeks before the presidential election, "the newspaper writes. Forbes reminds that it was the Republicans who blocked the latest permits of USAI and PDA. The long blockade of assistance has actually deprived the Ukrainian forces of critical ammunition at a decisive moment of a wider war-and may have become a decisive factor in the fall of the Ukrainian fortress city of Avdiivka.

Last week, the continuation seemed unlikely, the White House suggested that the current plan of spending all the remaining PDA funds until the deadline on September 30. This is the only possible way for Baiden to spend PDA funds before the expiration of their validity. Almost speaking, this means that PDA ads this week will probably be the latest PDA ads until the new Congress has been going on in 2025 and may consider additional funding for Ukraine.

According to the law, the President must inform the Congress what weapons he gathers for further transfer to the ally. Thus, the only excess systems that the White House can legally send to Ukraine in the foreseeable future is the systems that he has already announced or has to announce this week. The help package, in particular, will include new planning bombs-70-Mile Joint Standoff Weapon. Ukraine also wants to get a winged bomb for F-16 fighters.