US President Joe Biden’s administration will announce $US200 million ($A304 million) of new weapons aid for Ukraine as soon as Tuesday, officials told Reuters.
The funding comes as the Biden’s administration begins to dole out $US6.2 billion of funds discovered after a Pentagon accounting error over-valued billions of Ukraine aid.
In May, the Pentagon announced it had mistakenly assigned a higher-than-warranted value to the US weaponry shipped to Kyiv when staff used “replacement value” instead of “depreciated value” to tabulate the billions worth ammunition, missiles and other equipment sent to Ukraine.
Ukraine needs weaponry that can be shipped from US stocks in a matter of days or weeks so it can keep up its fight to repel Russia’s invasion – the accounting error worked to Kyiv’s benefit because more equipment can be sent.
Beginning to use these discovered funds is significant because they represent the last of the previously congressionally authorised $US25.5 billion worth of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) the administration can utilise to ship weapons from US stocks in the event of an emergency, the US officials said.
Washington is currently working on a supplemental budget request to continue to aid Kyiv, the US officials said.
Tuesday’s expected announcement of $US200 million would be the first tranche of the $US6.2 billion windfall of previously authorised Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), the officials said.
Source : Canberra Times