Biden Announces Billions More in Military Aid for Ukraine

President Joe Biden is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sept 26.

U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) hold a bilateral meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Paris on June 7, 2024. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Sept. 26 announced that his administration will spend nearly $8 billion to help Ukraine fight against Russia, the latest mammoth expenditure that the United States has pledged since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The aid will help Ukraine “win this war,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

The aid includes the first shipment of a precision-guided glide bomb called the Joint Standoff Weapon, with a range of up to 81 miles. The medium-range missile gives Ukraine a major upgrade to the weapons it is using to strike Russian forces, allowing the Ukrainians to do it at safer distances. The bomb, capable of striking targets with high accuracy, is to be dropped from fighter jets.

The president, who is set to exit in January 2025 after pulling out of the 2024 race, said he has directed the Pentagon to use $5.5 billion that Congress previously allocated before the money expires in several days.

The administration is also spending $2.4 billion under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the administration to buy weapons for Ukraine from companies rather than pull them from U.S. stocks.

The money will help Ukraine bolster its air defenses and air-to-ground capabilities, according to Biden.

The president has also told military officials to provide Ukraine with more Patriot missiles, an additional Patriot air defense battery, and more training for F-16 pilots.

Biden told a U.N. leaders’ reception on Sept. 25 that America under his leadership “defended Ukraine as a tyrant threatened to wipe it off the map,” which he said supported the idea that “nothing is impossible.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, told the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 25 that Ukraine wants to end the war, but that can only happen if Russian troops leave Ukraine.

“I want peace for my people—real peace and just peace,” he said.

The Ukrainian president is scheduled to meet later on Sept. 26 with Biden to present his latest plan for victory. Before meeting with Biden, Zelenskyy is due to meet Democratic and Republican congressional leaders at the U.S. Capitol.

Biden said he was proud to welcome Zelenskyy back to the White House.

Trump has been criticizing the Ukrainian president as he campaigns for the Nov. 5 election and, at least for now, turned down a request from Zelenskyy for a meeting.

Trump told a rally in North Carolina on Sept. 25, “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelenskyy.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pa., on Sept. 22, 2024. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters

Russian leaders said on Sept. 25 that they might change their position on nuclear weapons if the country is attacked.

“It is proposed that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the changes should be considered a signal to the United States and other Western countries.

“This is a signal that warns these countries about the consequences if they participate in an attack on our country by various means, and not necessarily nuclear ones,” Peskov said.

Reuters contributed to this report.