President Biden will announce $60M Military Aid to Ukraine on Wednesday

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The United States will announce military aid of $60 million for Ukraine during a Wednesday meeting in the White House between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Biden administration said the aid package for Ukraine was essential because of a major increase in Russian military activity along with its border and mortar attacks, cease-fire violations, and other provocations. The White House notification to Congress said, “Russia’s buildup along the Ukrainian border has highlighted capability shortfalls in the Ukrainian military’s ability to defend against a Russian incursion. Ukraine’s significant capability gaps must be urgently addressed to reinforce deterrence in light of the current Russian threat”. Zelenskky is set to meet Biden as part of a White House visit that the administration hopes will demonstrate support for Ukraine’s sovereignty in the face of Russia’s seizure of Crimea and backing of armed separatists in the country’s east.

The White House also said President Biden will also encourage Zelenskyy’s efforts to tackle corruption in the country. However, Zelenskyy is expected to raise the concern with Biden over Washington’s decision to not block the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany that bypasses Ukraine. Zelinskyy has described the new pipeline as a powerful geopolitical weapon for Russia. The aid is designed to demonstrate that the US is committed to Ukraine’s security when the former Soviet republic has sought stronger Western backing during Russia’s troop buildup and escalating tensions. The new military aid package will include more Javelin anti-tank missiles because it is essential to defend against the Russia-backed separatists who have rolled through eastern Ukraine. In March, the Pentagon announced a $125 million military aid package for Ukraine, including 2-armed patrol boats to help the country defend its territorial waters.

The military aid to Ukraine became a politically freighted issue in the Trump administration. Allegations that then-President Donald Trump withheld assistance to Ukraine as part of a scheme to press the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden and his son Hunter formed the basis of the first impeachment case against him. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called Washington’s failure to block the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany a grave political error. He has described the new pipeline as a powerful geopolitical weapon for Russia. It annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 after the ouster of the former Kremlin-friendly president and has thrown its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The head of Ukraine’s state-controlled Naftogaz oil and gas company, Yuriy Vitrenko said, “We’ll be very, very loud, because it’s a matter of national security for Ukraine, for the region, and for the US as well”.