The heads of the US Treasury, Pentagon and State Department called on Congress to approve aid to Ukraine

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent to Congress letterwhich called on legislators to approve the allocation of budget assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $11.8 billion. Earlier, American President Joe Biden asked Congress to allocate $61.4 billion to Ukraine.

“Direct budgetary support for Ukraine is inextricably linked to its success on the battlefield in resisting the Russian military, supporting the functioning of the government and economy and allowing Ukraine to focus its resources on its defense,” notes the document published on website US Treasury.

According to Antony Blinken, Janet Yellen and Lloyd Austin, without further US assistance, “Ukraine will not be able to defend itself and prevent further Russian encroachment on NATO countries.” The letter also emphasizes that the allocated funds will only be used to meet the “essential needs” of Kyiv. In addition, the heads of the Pentagon, State Department and Treasury emphasized that the US authorities will carefully control the spending of the money allocated to Ukraine and will ensure that it goes specifically for military purposes and the continued functioning of government bodies during the military conflict.

US President Joe Biden at the end of October asked the US Congress for $106 billion to finance assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Of this, $61.4 billion was planned to be allocated for military assistance to Ukraine and another $14.3 billion to Israel. The House of Representatives proposed splitting the bill and considering funding for Israel as a priority. The new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, believes that aid to Israel will be supported by congressmen from both parties, and that a debate will inevitably unfold between Democrats and Republicans around the need to support Ukraine.

Read more about the situation in the Kommersant article “Congressmen separated Israel from Ukraine.”

Alexander Kislov