The U.S. has approved providing another $2 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Ukraine, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday would come in the form of a “first-of-its-kind defense enterprise fund.”
During his visit to Kyiv, Blinken said the new fund will cover three main components: FMF funds Ukraine can use to purchase U.S-made weapons it requires in the near-term, investments in Ukraine’s industrial base, “helping to strengthen even more its capacity to produce what it needs for itself but also to produce for others,” and funds to help Ukraine purchase military equipment from other countries.
“The newest support that I just announced, but particularly the $60 billion [in the] supplemental, we know is coming at a critical time. Ukraine is facing this renewed brutal Russian onslaught, and we see again senseless strikes at civilians, residential buildings. I emphasized to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy] and my conversations with the foreign minister the substance of the work that we’re doing to get the aid to Ukraine. We’re rushing ammunition, armored vehicles, missiles, air defenses – rushing them to get to the front lines to protect soldiers, to protect civilians” Blinken said during a press conference in Kyiv alongside Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, on Wednesday.
The new $95 billion supplemental bill passed in late April included $60 billion in further assistance for Ukraine, covering additional FMF funds to support Kyiv in its fight against Russia’s continued invasion (Defense Daily, April 24).
Blinken on Wednesday also said the U.S. is set to finalize the text of its new bilateral security agreement with Ukraine “very, very shortly.”
“But the heavy lifting has been done and we’re there, and I imagine we’ll be able to sign that agreement in a matter of weeks,” Blinken said.
U.S. State Department, Defense of Defense and National Security Council officials began negotiations with their Ukrainian counterparts on a long-term bilateral security agreement between the countries last August (Defense Daily, Aug. 4 2023).
“Our bilateral security commitments will focus on ensuring Ukraine has a sustainable force capable of defending Ukraine now and deterring Russian aggression in the future, supporting and improving efficiency and transparency across Ukraine’s defense institutions and industry, and bolstering the reform agenda that will support the good governance necessary to advance towards its Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” the State Department wrote in a statement at the time.
Blinken noted that 32 countries have now negotiated or will soon complete negotiations on bilateral security agreements with Kyiv, which “will sustain assistance to Ukraine for the next decade and enable it to build this future force that can deter aggression and defend against it.”