With new aid for Ukraine blocked in Congress since DecemberThe White House announced Tuesday that it had assembled an additional $300 million in military aid to use as a stopgap measure.
“The package includes ammunition and cartridges to help Ukraine hold the line against Russia’s brutal attacks over the next two weeks,” President Joe Biden said during a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the White House, adding: “We must act before it is literally too late.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan detailed the plan during a White House briefing, saying the aid is coming when Ukraine “doesn’t have enough ammunition to fight back.”
“So today, on behalf of President Biden, I am announcing an emergency security assistance package in the amount of $300 million in weapons and equipment to address some of the urgent needs of the Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House, March 12, 2024, in Washington, DC.
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The package will include anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition, artillery shells and anti-armor systems.
“This is help Ukraine desperately needs to hold the line against Russian attacks and to repel continued Russian attacks in the east and other parts of the country,” Sullivan said.
Asked by ABC News’ Karen Travers how quickly that aid could get to Ukraine, Sullivan said “we can move these things forward quickly.”
“We’ve proven that over time we’ve built a logistics pipeline and infrastructure to be able to do this,” Sullivan said. “I can’t give you a precise estimate for operational reasons, but it will go very quickly.”
An artillery division of the 59th Brigade fires at Russian forces on the front line near Donetsk, December 23, 2022, in Donetsk, Ukraine. The division fires 152mm shells with a Howitzer D20 cannon supplied by the United States of America.
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The funding comes as a $95 billion foreign aid package, including nearly $60 million for Ukraine, has been stalled in the House for nearly a month. This bill passed the Democratic-controlled Senate in early February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson did not bring the bill up for a vote.
Sullivan said past contracts were “negotiated well,” leaving more savings on the table for this new aid package.
“And to put the matter straight, we are able to use these cost savings to make this modest amount of new security assistance available now without impacting America’s military readiness, and the President has asked to his team to use these cost savings.”
But Sullivan also made clear that this plan does not supplant additional funding that would come from congressional action.
An artillery division of the 59th Brigade fires at Russian forces on the front line near Donetsk, December 23, 2022, in Donetsk, Ukraine. The division fires 152mm shells with a Howitzer D20 cannon supplied by the United States of America.
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“It goes without saying that this package does not replace and should not delay the critical need to pass the bipartisan bill. national security bill,” Sullivan said.
An official told ABC News that the program called the withdrawal plan a “one-off.”
Sullivan also told Karen that the administration is not planning another opportunity like this.
“Well, as my friends at DOD like to remind me, we can’t plan for cost savings. So we can’t plan for future withdrawals available based on cost savings. So we don’t plan for that. …That’s not part of what we’re looking for.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
