Trump’s administration told Congress it will not finish spending $400mn in approved Ukraine aid until fiscal 2029, the year Trump leaves office.
Reuters: Kyiv is critically low on weapons needed to defend against Russian missile attacks. 1/
Pentagon letter: The funds would be obligated in fiscal 2026, but final delivery is estimated for the year ending Sept. 30, 2029.
Reuters source: Two months after the letter, the money still had not been disbursed or even put on contract. 2/
The $400mn plan includes $200mn for weapons, ammunition and explosives; $99.9mn for vehicles, spares and equipment; and $100mn for services such as transporting defense articles to Ukraine. 3/
Ukraine wants to end its reliance on the US-made Patriot and build a cheaper European system of its own, codenamed Freyja.
Kyiv wants a prototype ready by the first half of 2027, with Russian ballistic missiles now outpacing its dwindling supply of interceptors — Reuters. 1/
Ukraine depends almost entirely on US-made Patriots, the only weapon in its arsenal that reliably downs Russian ballistic missiles flying at several times the speed of sound.
Patriot supplies keep slipping on political volatility, low stocks, and a long production cycle. 2/
Russia has stepped up its ballistic strikes on the capital Kyiv and the southern port hub of Odesa this month, firing dozens of missiles at both cities.
Ukraine failed to intercept most of them because it ran short on interceptors, the exact gap Freyja is built to close. 3/