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The White House has issued a blunt warning that the US is set to run out of funds to aid Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that a failure by Congress to approve new support would “kneecap” Kyiv.
The alert from Shalanda Young, the White House budget director, in a letter to congressional leaders on Monday, represented the most specific assessment yet of Washington’s waning financial and military support for Ukraine.
“Without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from US military stocks,” Young wrote to political leaders of both parties.
“There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money — and nearly out of time.”
President Joe Biden’s request for $106bn in emergency funding for his biggest foreign policy priorities, including Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, remains mired in stalemate on Capitol Hill, driven by mounting Republican opposition to helping Kyiv.
Some lawmakers — especially in the Senate, where backing for Ukraine runs deeper — are trying to negotiate a bipartisan deal that would contain aid for Kyiv alongside new immigration and asylum procedures to reduce the number of undocumented people arriving in the US through its southern border.
But those talks appear to be faltering. On Monday, one person familiar with the talks said Republicans had hardened their demands on immigration to the point that Democrats could not support them. Among the proposals floated by Republicans were detention camps at US military bases, and prolonged detention for children, the person said, adding that they echoed the ideas of Stephen Miller, former president Donald Trump’s aide on immigration.
Even if an agreement is reached in the Senate, it is unclear if it can pass the Republican-led House, whose new Speaker Mike Johnson has been sceptical of funding for Ukraine.
On Monday, Johnson also linked additional Ukraine aid to Democrats agreeing more funding for US-Mexico border security.
“The Biden administration has failed to substantively address any of my conference’s legitimate concerns about the lack of a clear strategy in Ukraine, a path to resolving the conflict, or a plan for adequately ensuring accountability for aid provided by American taxpayers,” said Johnson in a statement.
“We believe both issues can be agreed upon if Senate Democrats and the White House will negotiate reasonably,” Johnson added.
Young warned Congress that cutting the flow of US weapons and equipment would “kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made, but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories”.
“Already, our packages of security assistance have become smaller and the deliveries of aid have become more limited . . . while our allies around the world have stepped up to do more, US support is critical and cannot be replicated by others,” she added.
The White House warning comes as EU member states are struggling to reach a budget deal in Brussels that would send €50bn to Ukraine, people close to the discussions told the Financial Times.
Young said Ukraine also needed economic support, which is in danger of stalling.
“If Ukraine’s economy collapses, they will not be able to keep fighting, full stop,” she wrote. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin understands this well, which is why Russia has made destroying Ukraine’s economy central to its strategy — which you can see in its attacks against Ukraine’s grain exports and energy infrastructure.”
Young also said money for Ukraine would bring benefits to the US economy. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Washington has approved $111bn in aid to Kyiv.
“While we cannot predict exactly which US companies will be awarded new contracts, we do know the funding will be used to acquire advanced capabilities to defend against attacks on civilians in Israel and Ukraine — for example, air defence systems built in Alabama, Texas and Georgia and vital subcomponents sourced from nearly all 50 states,” she said.
Additional reporting by Alex Rogers
