The White House has announced that the Pentagon will expedite the delivery of approximately €275 million worth of weapons to Ukraine, leveraging cost savings identified in its contracts. This marks the Pentagon’s first security package for Ukraine since December, when it admitted to depleting replenishment funds. Recent public acknowledgments reveal that the financial shortfall extends into the billions.
Amid Ukraine’s dwindling munitions and stalled efforts to secure additional funds for weapons in the House, the Pentagon’s ability to resume deliveries has hinged on Congress providing replenishment funds. The supplemental spending bill, currently held up due to Republican opposition, includes crucial funds needed for weapons replacement.
To address the immediate needs, the Pentagon utilized existing replenishment funds, enabling the withdrawal of munitions, air defense systems, and other weapons from reserve inventories. These were then sent to Ukraine under presidential drawdown authority (PDA), with contracts subsequently signed to order replacements, vital for maintaining U.S. military readiness.
The Pentagon’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) allowed for funding longer-term contracts with industry to produce new weapons for Ukraine. By obtaining cost savings in these extended contracts, the Pentagon decided to allocate those savings to send additional weapons to address the urgent situation on the battlefield.
Despite this one-time allocation, Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder emphasized that such an approach is unsustainable for supporting Ukraine in the long term. The cost savings offset the new package, leaving replenishment spending just over €9 billion, as acknowledged by senior defense officials during a briefing.
Ryder cautioned that this arrangement should be seen as a “one-time good deal” and cannot be relied upon for future occurrences. The announcement coincided with Polish leaders’ visit to Washington, urging the U.S. to resolve the impasse over funds for Ukraine during this critical phase of the war.
