Biden rushes to allocate final $9bn Ukraine aid before Trump’s inauguration
With 10 weeks to go until Donald Trump takes over, the Joe Biden administration is looking to push out the more than $9 billion of remaining funding appropriated by Congress for weapons and other security assistance to Ukraine, officials said.
Trump’s election victory spells immediate doubt for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, with Biden’s administration expected to sprint in its final days to ensure — insofar as possible — long-term US support.
Trump, who won an overwhelming victory in Tuesday’s election, has in the past voiced admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and scoffed at the $175 billion in US assistance committed for Ukraine since Moscow’s 2022 invasion.
The 78-year-old tycoon has repeatedly boasted that he can end the war in 24 hours, without explaining how.
His aides have mused about conditioning aid to Kyiv to force concessions, with Vice President-elect J.D. Vance once bluntly saying he did not care what happened to Ukraine, seeing the country as strategically insignificant compared with the global US rivalry with China.
With 10 weeks to go until Trump takes over, the Biden administration is looking to push out the more than $9 billion of remaining funding appropriated by Congress for weapons and other security assistance to Ukraine, officials said.
The Biden team is also looking for structural ways to put European allies in greater charge of assistance to Ukraine before Trump returns, diplomats said. Punch
