Ukraine’s Ambassador explained what $60 billion of the US aid will be spent on

The budget request submitted by the White House to the US Congress on 20 October provides about $61.4 billion for Ukraine, of which $46.1 billion is defence spending and $11.8 billion is direct budget support.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, wrote about this on social media. She stressed that in US budget law, the request is the administration’s vision, and the numbers should be analysed when this vision is turned into a budget document within Congress.

At the same time, she explained that the key figures of the request are as follows:

Defence spending – $46.1 billion, of which $30.6 billion is provided for programmes for the US Department of Defence.

18 billion to replenish defence supplies from the US Department of Defence warehouses, reimbursement for defence services and military education and training provided to the government of Ukraine;

$12 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative;

$1.7 billion for the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing programme for Ukraine and other US partners affected by the war in Ukraine;

$14.4 billion for technical and intelligence support, increased arms production, cybersecurity, etc.

The $14.75 billion for economic, financial, civilian and nuclear security excludes $11.8 billion for direct budget support to Ukraine.

$2.2 billion to support urgent recovery and programming needs in Ukraine and other conflict-affected countries in the region;

$360 million for the State Department to support the Ukrainian government in restoring and maintaining the rule of law, with a focus on recently liberated and war-affected areas;

$100 million for the US Department of State for non-proliferation, counter-terrorism, demining and related programmes;

Nuclear safety assistance – $149.5 million to the US National Nuclear Security Administration (US Department of Energy).

Humanitarian aid includes $481 million for programmes to support Ukrainians arriving in the US under the Uniting for Ukraine programme.

In addition, Ukraine is proposed to receive a substantial amount of the funding allocated for humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and the affected regions (the distribution by country has not yet been finalised):

$3.5 billion to provide humanitarian aid through US State Department programmes to Ukraine and Israel, as well as to regions affected by the situation in Israel and the war in Ukraine;

$5.7 billion to fund USAID programmes to meet the growing humanitarian needs caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, and the cascading regional and global impact of these crises.

The Ambassador stressed that the proposal could be brought to the floor of the US House of Representatives for consideration and voting after the issue of electing a speaker is resolved.

On 20 October, the White House requested nearly $105 billion from the US Congress to fund Ukraine, Israel and US border security assistance.

On 19 October, US President Joe Biden addressed the nation in a special prime-time speech, explaining why support for Ukraine and Israel is vital to US national security.