Nearly $2 billion in a few days ! :

Biden administration releases nearly $1 billion in additional aid for Ukraine, Trump calls for ceasefire

Source : France-Soir

The Biden administration is going all out, a month and a half before leaving the White House. The Pentagon announced on Saturday, December 7, 2024, the payment of a new tranche of military aid to kyiv, this time valued at nearly a billion. Another substantial envelope that comes barely a week after the $700 million, taken from the US army's stocks. Shortly before Donald Trump's return, President Joe Biden and his staff seem to be rushing to spend the budget allocated to Ukraine, estimated at $6 billion in early November, when the Republican won, by White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Since the defeat of Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, the Biden administration has reiterated its intention to spend the remaining amount of the budget allocated to Ukraine, in the hope of positioning kyiv in a favorable position if the incoming President, Donald Trump, manages to bring the two belligerents around the negotiating table as declared during his campaign.

Nearly $2 billion in a few days

Ukraine's first supporter since February 2022 with more than $60 billion in military aid, the United States had first officially authorized, in mid-November, private military companies to go to this central European country, "far from the front lines" to "repair and maintain equipment provided by the United States."

On December 2, Washington announced additional military aid for Ukraine, valued at $725 million and including missiles and antipersonnel mines, according to a statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The United States is providing a significant new batch of weapons and equipment (…) This additional assistance (…) is valued at $725 million,” it said. Specifically, this includes artillery ammunition, STinger anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles.

On Saturday, a few days later, it was the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, who announced another aid. This time, it is estimated at 988 million dollars. It is still a question of munitions for artillery, drones but also parts and components for the maintenance of artillery systems and armored vehicles.

The Pentagon chief warned against a suspension of American aid, which the next president considers too high. "We can continue to oppose the Kremlin. Or we can let Putin do as he pleases and condemn our children and grandchildren to live in a world of chaos and conflict," he said. "The current administration has made its choice. So has a bipartisan coalition in Congress. The next administration will have to make its own choice," added Lloyd Austin.

In his remarks at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, he also warned against isolating the United States from its partners. “Ultimately, America is weaker when it is alone. And America is smaller when it is isolated,” he said, in contrast to the president-elect’s “America First” vision.

Trump calls for ceasefire

The announcement of this new American aid came at a time when Donald Trump was in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Republican promised to resolve the war between kyiv and Moscow even before he was sworn in in January. On Sunday, he called for an “immediate ceasefire” and negotiations to end the conflict, as Zelensky and Ukraine would like, according to his social media post.

"There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives have been lost in vain, too many families have been destroyed, and if this continues it could turn into something bigger, and much worse," he wrote.

Adopting his usual tone, he declared that Ukraine had lost "ridiculously" 400,000 soldiers and "many more civilians", while "600,000 Russian soldiers are wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started and that could last forever". "I know Vladimir Putin well. China can help. The world is waiting!" insisted Donald Trump.