US expected to announce billions in Ukraine aid after Congress fails to include extension in stopgap government funding bill

The US plans to announce billions of dollars for Ukraine within days after Congress failed to include an aid extension in its stopgap measure to keep the government open, according to two defense officials and several congressional sources.

The US plans to announce billions of dollars for Ukraine within days after Congress failed to include an aid extension in its stopgap measure to keep the government open, according to two defense officials and several congressional sources. The first of the military aid packages, which is expected as soon as Wednesday, will total $375 million, according to the defense officials. From there, the value of the packages will rise sharply, with less than a week before the remainder of the authority expires. Although the packages will be announced in the near future, the shipment of weapons will be delayed because of dwindling stockpiles in the weapons and equipment that the US is willing to send Ukraine, as CNN previously reported. The Biden administration has nearly $6 billion left in what’s known as presidential drawdown authority to deliver arms and equipment to Ukraine before it expires at the end of the month. The Pentagon was pushing Congress to extend the authority into the next fiscal year so that it would not expire, which would give the US more flexibility in its ability to provide critical supplies to support Ukraine in its war with Russia. Congressional leaders were forced to leave the language out of the spending bill because of internal resistance from the House GOP, according to a person familiar with the matter. House Republicans remain deeply divided over funding for Ukraine. The House is expected to easily approve the stopgap spending measure Wednesday and then leave Washington until after the November election. The Senate could take up the funding measure as early as late Wednesday or early Thursday – the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit the US Capitol. Zelensky has repeatedly called on the US and other countries to deliver more weapons to Ukraine and has pushed for the US to loosen its restrictions on the use of US weapons against targets deep inside Russia.