The massive dollar amount requested also sends a signal to Russia that the United States intends to back Ukraine in the fight for the long run. It will also likely boost Ukrainians who say they want to defeat Russia, not merely settle for a long-term stalemate.
The $20 billion in military aid includes $5 billion in additional authority to transfer weapons and equipment to Ukraine from U.S. inventories, $6 billion for the Ukraine security assistance initiative and $4 billion for the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program.
“The president’s funding request is what we believe is needed to enable Ukraine’s success over the next five months of this war,” an administration official told reporters on a call Wednesday. “And we have every expectation that our partners and allies … will continue to provide comparable levels of assistance going forward.”
The latest request comes after Congress approved nearly $14 billion in emergency funding to help Ukraine last month, including billions to fund deployments of thousands more U.S. troops in Europe and to replenish depleted U.S. stocks of weapons shipped to Kyiv.