Ukraine continues to receive US military aid despite the fact that the Pentagon is running out of money, Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova assured , adding that Ukraine "needs more weapons" and that new bills need to be passed urgently. At the same time, she believes that the US Congress will approve an aid package for Ukraine faster than the transfer of frozen assets to Russia. Markarova said this in an interview with the Voice of America, UNN reports.
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In mid-December, the US Department of Defense announced that it had about $4 billion more at its disposal that the Pentagon could use to provide aid to Ukraine. These additional funds arose due to the recalculation of aid to Ukraine. At the same time, the US Department of Defense no longer has the funds to replenish its own stocks after providing assistance to Ukraine, the newspaper writes.
As Markarova explained, out of the three programs under which the United States cooperates with Ukraine, USAI (Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative) and FMF (Foreign Military Financing), two are procurement, and Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) is the release of finished weapons from stockpiles.
"The budget, in addition to the allocation program, which simply authorizes the president and the US Department of Defense to allocate (ready-made grain - ed.), also includes an amount for restocking (replenishing the US's own stockpiles after providing assistance to Ukraine - ed.) Now we are in a situation where we still have the additional authority, but there are no funds for replenishment," Markarova explains.
According to the ambassador, the main priority for the Ukrainian embassy is the approval of the $61 billion package by Congress. Because the Pentagon is already doing its best.
"In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary Austin personally...are doing a lot to help us in any situation as much as possible. Some units are very active in allocating from their own stocks. However, we also have to understand that the sooner this bill (on $61 billion in additional funding - ed.) is passed, the less we will need to ask ordinary servicemen here to be heroic. They must also act absolutely within their own rules," the diplomat said.
At the same time, even if there are no new allocations, Ukraine reportedly continues to receive assistance from the United States for previous purchases.
"A lot of the allocations that were made in the summer, especially those purchased under the USAI program - remember, there were big packages of $3 billion, $2 billion - were all purchases. Therefore, supplies continue. And if we don't see any new allocations, the deliveries are actually going on, there is no decrease. Does this mean that we have enough weapons?" - no," explains the ambassador.
"We need more weapons, and for this we urgently need new bills and powers to allocate from our own stockpiles and new purchases. Therefore, all eyes are now on the US Congress," Markarova emphasizes.
Due to the delay in the Congress of the aid package for Ukraine, the newspaper notes that more and more experts are discussing alternative financing options for Ukraine. One of these options is the confiscation and transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. In total, we are talking about more than $300 billion, most of which are frozen in the EU.
Answering the question whether Russian assets can really become an alternative source of financing for Kyiv, Markarova said that this is part of a single process.
According to the official, the seizure of Russian assets should not be considered separately from additional aid, the fate of which now depends on American lawmakers.
"It's all a single plan A," says Markarova.
"We are all working on Plan A. And Plan A includes both additional assistance and confiscation. Confiscation of Russian assets is not Plan B. We have been working on this since last year. This is not an either/or situation. That is, we are working on both the confiscation of sovereign assets and the confiscation of private assets, both in Ukraine and in the United States," the Ukrainian diplomat said.
At the same time, she pointed out that "even with the unprecedented assistance of the past year, we do not have enough shells, we do not have enough of everything." "Therefore, we need to maintain the level of support and increase it, and we need to start co-production, our own production, and confiscate Russian assets very quickly. Because they have to pay for it," Markarova said.
She believes that Congress will approve a new aid package for Ukraine faster than the procedure for transferring Russian assets will be agreed upon. Therefore, Russian assets can hardly be considered an alternative way of financing if Congress continues to delay approval of the $61 billion package.
According to Markarova, who once headed the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the transfer of Russian assets to Ukraine, even if the decision is made quickly, will be "a matter of months.
"This decision requires the participation of a very large number of countries," Markarova explained, adding that although the share of assets held by the United States is not the largest, it is very important what position the United States will take.
"In this case, not only is the administration actively discussing this issue, but there are two bills in the House and Senate that are dedicated to this very thing," Markarova says.
She hopes that as soon as the package of aid to Ukraine and Israel is approved and the budgetary issues that are of top priority for the US government are resolved, the Congress will start drafting bills on the confiscation of Russian assets.