By WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is expected to announce more than $1 billion in new military assistance to the Ukraine government as early as Wednesday, according to U.S. officials, as Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky is expected to make a plea to Congress for more aid to defend his country against Russia’s invasion.
The $1.01 billion is expected to include more of the same kinds of military equipment the U.S. says the Ukrainians need the most: antiarmor and antiair systems, including portable air defenses such as Javelins and Stingers. The money would come from the roughly $13.6 billion allotted for Ukraine in the omnibus budget bill Biden signed Tuesday.
While the White House is considering sending more troops to Europe to add to the roughly 15,000 deployed there since the Russia-Ukraine crisis began, Biden isn’t expected to deploy more troops now, U.S. officials said.
“We’re moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country,” Biden said Tuesday, without providing additional details. “And I’ll have much more to say about this tomorrow about exactly what we’re doing in Ukraine.”
Senators and members of the House of Representatives of both parties have called for the administration to send as much military support to Ukraine as possible, and in his virtual address to Congress Wednesday, Zelensky is expected to appeal to that support.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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