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Biden Announces $2.5 Billion in Fresh Military Aid to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden speaks at the Company House Hotel, in Christiansted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, December 29, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
US President Joe Biden speaks at the Company House Hotel, in Christiansted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, December 29, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
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Biden Announces $2.5 Billion in Fresh Military Aid to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden speaks at the Company House Hotel, in Christiansted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, December 29, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
US President Joe Biden speaks at the Company House Hotel, in Christiansted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, December 29, 2024. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

US President Joe Biden announced $2.5 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine on Monday as he uses his final weeks in office to surge military aid to Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes power.
"At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war over the remainder of my time in office," Reuters quoted Biden as saying in a statement.
Biden's announcement includes $1.25 billion in military aid drawn from US stockpiles and a $1.22 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package, the final USAI package of Biden's time in office.
Under USAI, military equipment is procured from the defense industry or partners, rather than drawn from American stocks, meaning it can take months or years to arrive on the battlefield.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is approaching the three-year mark and recently the Russians have used North Korean troops to bolster their fighting position.
North Korean forces are experiencing mass casualties on the front lines of Russia's war against Ukraine, with 1,000 of their troops killed or wounded in the last week alone in Russia's Kursk region, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday.
In a statement, Biden said the new assistance will provide Ukraine with "an immediate influx of capabilities that it continues to use to great effect on the battlefield and longer-term supplies of air defense, artillery, and other critical weapons systems."
Nearly three years into the war, Washington has committed $175 billion in total aid for Ukraine, but it is uncertain if the aid will continue at that pace under Trump, who replaces Biden on Jan. 20. Trump has said he wants to bring the war to a swift end. During the presidential election campaign, Trump questioned the level of US involvement in the conflict, suggesting European allies should bear more of the financial burden.
Some of his fellow Republicans - who will control both the House of Representatives and Senate starting next month - have also cooled on sending more aid to Kyiv.
Biden said the Defense Department is in the process of delivering hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds, thousands of rockets, and hundreds of armored vehicles "which will strengthen Ukraine’s hand as it heads into the winter."

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World

France, UK Eye 'Real Progress' in Hormuz Plan

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey (R) and Chief of Joint Operations (CJO) Lieutenant General Nick Perry attend a 'Strait of Hormuz Military Planning Conference' at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, north-west London on April 23, 2026. (Photo by Alastair Grant / POOL / AFP)
Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey (R) and Chief of Joint Operations (CJO) Lieutenant General Nick Perry attend a 'Strait of Hormuz Military Planning Conference' at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, north-west London on April 23, 2026. (Photo by Alastair Grant / POOL / AFP)
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France, UK Eye 'Real Progress' in Hormuz Plan

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey (R) and Chief of Joint Operations (CJO) Lieutenant General Nick Perry attend a 'Strait of Hormuz Military Planning Conference' at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, north-west London on April 23, 2026. (Photo by Alastair Grant / POOL / AFP)
Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey (R) and Chief of Joint Operations (CJO) Lieutenant General Nick Perry attend a 'Strait of Hormuz Military Planning Conference' at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, north-west London on April 23, 2026. (Photo by Alastair Grant / POOL / AFP)

Britain and France Thursday voiced hope that military plans to secure the Strait of Hormuz were coming together and would succeed in restoring trade flows through the vital passage.

At a two-day meeting in London, military planners discussed the practicalities of a multinational mission led by the UK and France to protect navigation in the key waterway following a sustainable ceasefire, top defense officials said.

The aim is to form a "defensive, multinational mission that will strengthen the confidence of commercial shipping, and, if necessary, clear mines and protect vessels when the hostilities end", AFP quoted British defense minister John Healey as saying.

The British ministry said the meeting involved more than 44 countries from every continent.

Healey and French counterpart Catherine Vautrin said in a joint statement they were "confident that real progress can be made".

"International trade, energy, and economic stability for all our nations depend on freedom of navigation" in the strait, Healey told those attending.

He called for "practical military plans", saying "millions of people" were relying on a successful outcome from the meeting.

"We can't let them down," he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said more than a dozen countries have agreed to participate in the mission to free up navigation in Hormuz.

Iran said on Wednesday it would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the United States continued to blockade Iranian ports.

While strikes around the region have mostly stopped since the start of a ceasefire, the US and Iran have continued to exert pressure around the trade route.

Before the war started on February 28, about a fifth of the world's oil was shipped through the Strait.

World

Katz: Israel Awaiting US Green Light to 'Return Iran to Stone Age'

FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
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Katz: Israel Awaiting US Green Light to 'Return Iran to Stone Age'

FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel was "prepared to resume the war against Iran", adding that his country was awaiting a green light from the United States to return Iran to "the Stone Age".

"The IDF is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have been marked," Katz said in a video statement.

"We are awaiting a green light from the United States -- first and foremost to complete the elimination of the Khamenei dynasty... and additionally to return Iran to the Dark Age and the Stone Age by destroying key energy and electricity facilities and dismantling its national economic infrastructure," he added.

The opening US-Israel attack of the war on February 28 killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose son later succeeded him but has yet to appear in public, creating speculation over his condition and if he is still alive.

"This time, when the attack resumes, it will be different and lethal, adding devastating blows at the most sensitive points -- following the tremendous strikes the Iranian terror regime has already sustained -- that will shake and bring down its foundations," AFP quoted Katz as saying.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which came into effect on April 8, to create space for talks with Tehran.

Plans for renewed negotiations in Pakistan hang in the balance.

The Middle East war has engulfed the region, leaving several thousand people dead, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and continuing to destabilize the global economy.

World

Prince Harry, on Visit to Kyiv, Tells Putin to 'Stop this War'

Britain's Prince Harry steps off a train as he arrives, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at the railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 23, 2026. - Reuters
Britain's Prince Harry steps off a train as he arrives, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at the railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 23, 2026. - Reuters
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Prince Harry, on Visit to Kyiv, Tells Putin to 'Stop this War'

Britain's Prince Harry steps off a train as he arrives, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at the railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 23, 2026. - Reuters
Britain's Prince Harry steps off a train as he arrives, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at the railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 23, 2026. - Reuters

Britain's Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday and called on Russia's President Vladimir Putin to end the war - a week after a massive Russian aerial attack on the country - and on US President Donald Trump to show leadership to help resolve the conflict.

By convention, the British royal family do not speak out on political matters, although King Charles and other senior royals have regularly voiced their support for Ukraine. But Harry, on his third visit to the country since the war began, used far more explicit language than any of his relatives have done previously, Reuters reported.

"President Putin, no nation benefits from the continued loss of life we are witnessing. There is still a moment—now—to stop this war, to prevent further suffering for Ukrainians and Russians alike, and to choose a different course," Harry said in a speech to a Kyiv security forum.

He called on Washington to do more to bring about an end to the war.

"This is a moment for American leadership, a moment for America to show that it can honour its international treaty obligations," he said.

"Europe has stood up in profound ways," added Harry, a British Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. "The task now is to match endurance with speed, solidarity with scale, and commitment with consistency."

In his speech, which drew huge applause, he praised the Ukrainian people's resolve and the innovative response of its military, including its advanced drone capabilities.

On his two-day visit Harry is also expected to visit the de-mining HALO Trust charity, supported by his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, and spend time with Ukrainian participants of the Invictus Games Foundation he founded, which helps wounded veterans recover through sport, according to Britain's ITV.

"I am here as a soldier who understands service, as a humanitarian who has seen the human cost of conflict, and as a friend of Ukraine who believes the world must not grow used to this war or numb to its consequences," Harry said.