Ukraine Collects Long-Awaited $250 Million in U.S. Military Aid

Ukrainian troops train with US Army mentors (7th Army Training Command, Flickr)

Just days before the expiration of the U.S. Foreign Aid budget, the Trump Administration approved a package of $250 million in military aid to Ukraine in support of their ongoing conflict against Russia. Despite strong bipartisan support from U.S. Congress on the aid, the White House delayed their decision for a multitude of suspected reasons, one of which was confirmed this Friday.

The aid is one instance of many in which the United States has provided military assistance to Ukraine since the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2014. According to Kyiv Post, since that year the United States has directed over $1 billion of military funding to Ukraine. This time, the aid will pay for weapons such as sniper rifles, grenade launchers, or any “rendering services that would facilitate improving capabilities of Ukraine’s Armed Forces,” according to the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.

Although the aid came through days before the fiscal year’s end on September 30, the expiration date for the U.S. Foreign Aid Budget, Capitol Hill sources report that this decision making process in the White House dragged out because President Trump was seriously considering pulling the funds. Despite the President’s deliberation, both U.S. parties were in agreement that Ukrainian aid was necessary to offset Russian aggression.

At the time of the funds’ approval, there were several theories for the administration’s hesitation. Recently, the Trump administration attempted to cut all foreign aid by $4 billion with the intent of canceling programs that do not directly affect U.S. interests abroad. However, both sides of Congress rejected this pursuit. Another explanation, according to Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, was that the President was investigating Ukrainian President Volodymyr’s allegiance to the United States. A minority of Democrats believed that the White House withheld aid as a tactic to pressure Ukraine’s government into launching an investigation on Trump’s potential 2020 election adversary, Joe Biden. Attorney for the President Rudy Giuliani confirmed this theory during a CNN interview on September 20.

This decision by the White House could represent a change in how the White House conducts its relationship with Russia. Since the events surrounding the 2016 U.S. elections, the President’s unconventional relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been common knowledge in the international community. This $250 million could mark Trump’s first step away from Russian goodwill and towards anti-autocratic ventures.