White House Says Money For Ukraine Is ‘Desperately’ Needed

The Biden administration is “desperately” trying to release funds to help Ukraine’s military in the conflict with Russia, White House National Security Council coordinator John Kirby has said.

Appearing on Sunday’s ABC News, Kirby was asked whether Biden would give in to demands by Republicans, who insist that a $106 billion ‘national security supplemental request’ for Ukraine and Israel be conditional on a security spending boost for the US-Mexico border.

RT reports: Kirby declined to answer the question, saying he “won’t get ahead of the president’s decision-making.” Instead, he again stressed the importance of the stalled aid package.

“I’ll tell you in that supplemental request that we put forward… yep, there’s money for Ukraine which we desperately need. There’s money for Israel. There’s also money for border security,” he explained.

According to Kirby, an immigration reform plan was put forward “on day one of this administration.” However, the Republican-led Congress “basically ignored it.” 

If lawmakers “are serious about immigration reform, they ought to take that proposal up by the president. They also ought to pass our supplemental request, all four of the major buckets in there, which also includes money for the Indo-Pacific, is important to our national security,” he said.

Kirby urged Congress to act “immediately” to resolve the military aid deadlock.

The administration has been struggling to push through the $106 billion aid package since early October, largely due to opposition from Republican hardliners, who are resisting further funding for Kiev.

The Biden administration has provided Ukraine with more than $76 billion in military and other assistance since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. However, the flow of money has recently dried up. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who visited Kiev last month, could only announce a new arms and ammunition package worth $100 million.