The United States has sent more than $59 billion in security assistance to help Ukraine beat back Russia’s invasion, a senior defense official told reporters Tuesday, and there’s several billion more likely to be sent during President Joe Biden’s remaining time in office.
The administration intends to send the $1.22 billion still left from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative by the end of the year, according to the official, who spoke on background because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the state of Ukraine assistance.
There’s also $5.6 billion in weapons, vehicles, and other equipment the president could authorize to go to Ukraine, the official said.
“And we will continue to do drawdown packages for the remainder of this administration,” the official added. “But $5.6 billion is a substantial amount of authority. So I would certainly anticipate that there could be remaining authority that would transition and be available for the next administration to use.”
Another assistance announcement is expected before the end of the year, the official said, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group is set to meet in early 2025 to discuss the future of the 57-country organization.
Though the U.S. has contributed the highest dollar amounts to Ukraine, the defense official said, 16 other countries have contributed a higher percentage of their gross domestic product.
The hope, the official said, is that when Ukraine and Russia eventually sit down to negotiate the end of the war, Ukraine will be in the strongest possible position to guarantee its survival.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, the Russians are seeing roughly 1,200 casualties a day, but so far hasn’t had problems backfilling those losses.
“I don’t think that can last forever, though,” a senior military official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the status of the war, told reporters.
North Korean troops—mostly special operations troops with some direct and indirect fires capability—have been deployed to the front lines to assist, to less than stellar results, the official said.
“These are not battle-hardened troops,” the military official said. “They haven’t been in combat before, and I think some of that is showing.”
The North Koreans have taken casualties from the most junior to the most senior ranks, the official said, based on the number of command and control centers the Ukrainians have hit.
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