US pledges $1B in long-term weapon support to Ukraine amid leadership change

The United States will provide nearly $1 billion more in longer-term weapons support to Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday, as the Biden administration rushes to spend all of the congressionally approved funds it has left to help Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month.

French President Emmanuel Macron (C), President-elect Donald Trump (R) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pose after their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on December 07, 2024.

Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images

The current deal will include additional drones and bombs for the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. While these weapons are urgently needed, they will be supported by the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides for longer-term equipment to be put on contract.

The weapon systems purchased are frequently meant to bolster Ukraine's future military capabilities rather than making an immediate influence on the battlefield.

The $988 million package comes on top of an extra $725 million in US military support, including counter-drone equipment and HIMARS munitions, which were revealed Monday and would be pulled from the Pentagon's inventories to be sent to the front lines more swiftly. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has supplied more over $62 billion in military aid.

"The baton will soon be passed," Austin said. "Others will select the path of action. And I hope they will build on the strength we've developed over the last four years."

Russia's attack on Ukraine has increased, with hundreds of North Korean troops joining the fight to retake the Kursk area. Moscow has also fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile and is routinely targeting Kyiv's civilian facilities.

With uncertainties over whether Trump will retain military backing for Ukraine, the Biden administration has been attempting to spend every dollar remaining from a big foreign aid bill authorized earlier this year to put Ukraine in the best possible position.

"The administration has made its choice. So has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration must make its own decision," Austin said during an annual meeting of national security experts, military contractors, and lawmakers at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and France's Emmanuel Macron on Saturday while in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. Macron and other European leaders are attempting to persuade Trump to retain his support for Ukraine.

Trump, a longstanding admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has opposed US aid to Ukraine and advocated for a rapid conclusion to the war, increasing fears in Ukraine about the conditions of any future discussions.

Austin said that he's "confident that President Reagan would have stood on the side of Ukraine, American security and human freedom."

It was one of Austin's final significant statements as President Joe Biden's defense secretary, and it capped his more than 41-year career as a soldier and general.

Under Austin's leadership, the Pentagon convened a regular conference in 2022, currently attended by more than 50 nations, to discuss ways to provide tens of millions of rounds of ammunition and billions of dollars in modern weapons to Ukraine. Without an outpouring of solidarity, the country may have crumbled to Russia following its invasion.

"Together, we have helped Ukraine survive an all-out assault by the largest military in Europe," Austin said.

Austin and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longstanding Republican leader, were recognized at the conference for their lifetime of service, and they used the occasion to advocate for the United States to continue to establish and defend alliances, in stark contrast to Trump's "America First" approach.

Austin referred to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group as "the most consequential global coalition since the time of President George H.W. Bush and Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait," demonstrating how "America and our friends have become the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy."

Prior to Saturday's declaration, there was around $8 billion available to utilize to remove current weapons from US stockpiles and place more weapons on contract to assist Ukraine.

"We're not going to stop Putin by telling Ukraine we're not going to give you anything else," said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, during a session at the Reagan National Defense Forum.