The United States has sent $3.4 billion in additional budget aid to Ukraine, giving the war-torn country critical resources amid intensifying Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday.
Yellen said in a statement the direct budget assistance, provided in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, marked the final disbursement under the 2024 Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act.
A U.S. official said the funding brings the total in U.S. budget aid to Ukraine to just over $30 billion since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Most of those funds are used to keep Ukraine’s government running by paying salaries to teachers and other state employees.
Earlier on Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced $2.5 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine, which is separate from the direct budget aid.
Nearly three years into the war, Washington has committed $175 billion in total assistance for Ukraine.
President Joe Biden’s administration has been racing to shore up support for Ukraine before Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, given his public questioning of military aid and vows to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office.
Trump wants Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the nearly three-year-old Ukraine war. Some of his fellow Republicans, who will control both houses of the U.S. Congress starting next month, have also cooled on sending more aid to Kyiv.