the White House announces new aid to kyiv of 400 million dollars against the backdrop of the Russian offensive

This additional envelope will be paid in the form of equipment and training assistance. Washington is now trying to make up for lost time, after long months of discussions in Congress.

The White House announced in a press release on Friday, May 10, military aid of 400 million dollars (371 million euros), in the form of equipment and training aid, to “provide assistance to Ukraine “. This new envelope is unveiled as Russia launches a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of the country, in an attempt to “break through the lines of defense”, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. This is the third aid announcement in less than three weeks.

>> Follow our live coverage of the war in Ukraine

Washington is trying to make up for the long months lost while Congress tried to agree on assistance to kyiv, a period during which the flow of arms and munitions sent by the United States had dried up. At the end of April, the United States unveiled two tranches of aid, for a total of 7 billion dollars (6.5 billion euros).

Before that, and at the cost of very long and difficult discussions, the American Congress had voted, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate, an additional envelope of 61 billion dollars (56.6 billion euros) to assist Ukraine militarily and economically, at the request of President Joe Biden.

The United States is Ukraine’s primary military supporter in the face of the Russian invasion, and has committed more than $44 billion (40.8 billion euros) since the war began in February 2022. The news aid, which has just been announced, will be taken from the reserves of the American Department of Defense, and therefore immediately available or almost, like the tranche of one billion dollars revealed just after the vote in Congress. Washington also announced in April much more aid, amounting to 6 billion dollars (5.6 billion euros), this time not in withdrawals from existing stocks, but in the form of orders. defense industry.