White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday told reporters that the United States has gone through 96 percent of its funds allocated for Ukraine.
"Of the total funds that have been provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the war, which is an excess of $60 billion—and that's not just security assistance; that's economic, financial and humanitarian assistance—we've gone through about 96 percent of what's left," Kirby said during a press conference.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment Wednesday night.
Last month, President Joe Biden submitted a request to Congress for $106 billion that would go toward military and humanitarian aid for Israel and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian assistance to Gaza. That request earmarked $61.4 billion for Ukraine.
The aid request has been met with resistance from many conservative lawmakers, including newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson. While the House of Representatives approved funds for Israel, Johnson announced last week that "Ukraine will come in short order" but pressed for tougher U.S. border security policies to be put into place first.
"If we're going to take care of a border in Ukraine, we need to take care of America's border as well," Johnson said.
On Wednesday, Kirby reiterated that the United States still supports Ukraine in the war launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin while stressing the need for more aid. He also conceded Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive has been moving at a slow pace.
"The Ukrainians will be the first to tell you that they aren't making—and haven't made—as much progress on this counteroffensive as they would like," Kirby said. "And that's why we are so focused on making sure that we continue to provide security assistance to them so that they can make the most of the time they have left before the weather's really going to set in and make it harder for them to make any progress."
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also made similar comments when discussing how a $425 million security package to Kyiv announced on Friday had resulted in the amount of funds currently available to Ukraine to be low.
"We are beginning to provide Ukraine with smaller [Presidential Drawdown Authority] packages in order to stretch out our ability to support Ukraine for as long as possible," Jean-Pierre told reporters.
The American public's support for Ukraine aid has been declining. According to a Gallup poll released last week, 61 percent of U.S. adults said there "should be a time limit" on American aid to Ukraine, compared to 37 percent who said the U.S. should continue its support "as long as Ukraine requests it."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
