US to send Ukraine $5.5 billion in new budget and military aid

The national flags of Ukraine and the United States fly in the grounds of a police training base outside kyiv, Ukraine May 6, 2016. Picture taken May 6, 2016. REUTERS/ Valentin Ogirenko

Aug 8 (Reuters) – The United States will send an additional $5.5 billion in aid to Ukraine, consisting of $4.5 billion in budget support and $1 billion in military assistance, for help it weather the turbulence of this year’s Russian invasion.

The $4.5 billion budget grant will fund urgent government needs, including paying for pensions, social welfare and health care, bringing total U.S. tax assistance to Ukraine to $8.5 billion. dollars since the Russian invasion in February, the US Agency for International Development said.

The funding, coordinated with the US Treasury Department through the World Bank, will go to the Ukrainian government in tranches, beginning with a disbursement of $3 billion in August, USAID said.

It follows previous transfers of $1.7 billion in July and $1.3 billion in June, USAID said. Washington has also provided billions of dollars in military and security support.

The billion-dollar weapons package announced by the Pentagon is the largest military package under President Joe Biden’s withdrawal authority, including long-range rocket munitions and armored medical transport vehicles

It includes up to 50 M113 armored medical transports and ammunition for US-supplied HIMARS long-range rocket launchers and the NASAMS surface-to-air missile system. Read more

The fiscal and military aid packages – both first reported by Reuters on Monday – are drawn from a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine approved by Congress in May. Read more

Overall, the United States has paid more than $18 billion to Ukraine this year.

POVERTY IN UKRAINE IS GROWING

The new budget funds are to help the Ukrainian government maintain essential functions, including social and financial assistance to the growing poor population, disabled children and millions of internally displaced people, as the war s eternalizes.

Ukrainian officials estimate the country faces a budget deficit of $5 billion a month – or 2.5% of pre-war gross domestic product – due to the cost of war and falling tax revenues . Economists say this will swell Ukraine’s annual deficit to 25% of GDP, from 3.5% before the conflict.

The World Bank estimates that 55% of Ukrainians will live in poverty by the end of 2023 due to the war and the large number of displaced people, compared to 2.5% before the start of the war.

USAID said U.S. budget support has enabled the Ukrainian government to maintain the flow of gas and electricity to hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure and provide citizens with humanitarian supplies whose citizens are in urgent need.

The funds also paid health workers, teachers and other government officials.

USAID said strong safeguards have been put in place by the World Bank, as well as third-party USAID-funded watchdogs embedded within the Ukrainian government to ensure funds are directed where they are needed. are supposed to go.

“This economic aid is essential to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

The injection of fresh cash for Ukraine comes as the war, which Russia calls ‘a special military operation’, stretches into a sixth month, with millions of Ukrainians displaced and authorities warning of likely shortages gas in winter.

Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Idrees Ali and Mike Stone; Additional reporting by David Lawder Editing by Heather Timmons and Howard Goller

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