The United States plans to continue to allocate funds to Ukraine to fight Russia. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said this on Wednesday while answering questions from reporters on board the presidential plane en route to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“We are going to continue to support Ukraine. We’re going to continue to do everything we can to give them the support they need. But we must get support from Congress. They should consider this additional request. We have one more (tranche) left until the end of the year, and then the funds that were allocated by Congress for these purposes will run out. The President (…) is convinced that we are approaching this issue in good faith. We want our colleagues in Congress to approach these discussions with integrity. Some progress has been made. I won’t get ahead of myself. But we’ll have to wait to see where that goes,” Kirby said.
The NSS representative also explained that a new aid package for Ukraine could be approved as early as early January: “Time is not on our side. We want to get this funding as soon as possible. It looks like this will happen in early January. But the sooner the better.”
John Kirby noted that after the aid package is agreed upon, it will take several days or weeks for the funds to be transferred to Ukraine. Therefore, Kirby believes it is important to move forward on this issue in January, given Russia’s plans for an offensive in eastern Ukraine, around Avdiivka. According to Kirby, the US has reason to believe that in January and February, when the ground freezes, the Russian army will use it to go on the offensive. Kirby added that Ukraine needs US help to defend against Russia, because “even now, when “As we speak, they continue to launch drones and missiles into Kiev’s energy infrastructure to use winter time as a weapon.”
