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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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US Congress Certifies Trump Election Victory for Jan. 20 Inauguration

US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Congress Certifies Trump Election Victory for Jan. 20 Inauguration

US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

The US Congress formally certified Republican President-elect Donald Trump's November election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, clearing the way for him to be sworn in on Jan. 20.

The certification of the election results on Monday in the 50 states and the District of Columbia was accomplished in a brief, formal ceremony during a joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate. It was presided over by Harris, acting in her vice-presidential role as president of the Senate.

The quadrennial ritual stood in sharp contrast to four years ago when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to block the certification of then-President Trump's 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 defeat was the result of widespread fraud, and had warned throughout his 2024 campaign that he harbored similar concerns until his Nov. 5 defeat of Harris.

"Congress certifies our great election victory today - a big moment in history. MAGA!" Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday.

The joint session of Congress proceeded even as a winter storm hovered over the nation's capital, dropping about 6 inches (15 cm) of snow and snarling travel.

The final certification backed up preliminary findings that Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris's 226.

REPUBLICANS CONTROL WHITE HOUSE, CONGRESS

Republicans also captured a majority in the US Senate and held a narrow edge in the House in November's election, which will give Trump the party support he needs to implement his planned agenda of tax cuts and a crackdown on immigrants living in the country illegally.

Democrats did not try to block certification of Trump's victory on Monday.

"We must renew our commitment to safeguarding American democracy," No. 2 House Democrat Katherine Clark said in a statement earlier in the day. "As elected leaders, our loyalty must be to the Constitution, first and always. We are here to honor the will of the people and the rule of law."

Security inside and outside the Capitol was heightened in preparation for the certification and was expected to remain in place through Trump's swearing-in.

The Capitol grounds were ringed by metal fences hundreds of yards from the US Capitol, and accessible only via checkpoints guarded by uniformed police officers.

Convoys of black police vehicles were on hand, led by a 10-wheel Baltimore police mobile command center. New York Police Department reinforcements were also patrolling the area.

Inside, extra teams of uniformed US Capitol Police officers were checking IDs at entrance sites including doors and underground tunnels leading to the House and Senate chambers.

Trump has said he plans to pardon some of the more than 1,500 people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, when a mob fought with police, smashing its way in through windows and doors and chanting, "Hang Mike Pence," referring to Trump's then-vice president, in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden's victory.

In the 2021 melee at the Capitol, rioters surged past police barricades, assaulting about 140 officers and causing more than $2.8 million in damage. Multiple police officers who battled protesters died in the weeks that followed, some by suicide.

As a result of that day's violence, Congress passed legislation late in 2022 bolstering guardrails to ensure that the certification process is administered in a legal manner.

Many of these changes were directly in response to Trump's actions leading up to and including Jan. 6, 2021. For example, the new law asserts that the vice president's role is largely ceremonial.