The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday superior laws that gives roughly $1 billion in safety help for Ukraine.
The funding was included within the fiscal yr 2026 Protection appropriations laws and was pushed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Protection, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). The invoice superior within the committee by a vote of 26 to 3.
It consists of $800 million in safety help for Ukraine and $225 million in safety help for Baltic nations. Coons earlier informed reporters that the funding for the Baltics — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — is more likely to go in the direction of these nations’ assist for Ukraine, saying the overall for Kyiv could be considered as $1 billion.
“The secretary of the Army rightly calls Ukraine the Silicon Valley of warfare. The navy considers the maritime fight between Russia and Ukraine as the Black Sea battle lab, and recognizes the need for rapid innovation,” McConnell mentioned on the committee’s assembly on Thursday.
“But abandoning the foremost experts in drone warfare would be strategic self-harm, shutting off engagement with Ukraine would undermine our military’s efforts to prepare for the modern battlefield. Like our friends on the Armed Services Committee we are restoring funding for the USAI and other security assistance programs that make America safer.”
The funds for Ukraine proved non-controversial in Thursday’s committee assembly, the place partisan debates targeted on issues like Trump’s acceptance of a luxurious airplane from Qatar and requested funds to retrofit it as Air Pressure One.
There’s a bipartisan majority supporting Ukraine within the Congress, even when Trump and the MAGA motion argue in opposition to the U.S. sending navy help to different nations.
“I think there’s broad enthusiasm for bringing this war to a just conclusion, but also broad awareness that that means, not peace at any price, by strengthening Ukraine so that it is able to defend itself against what will almost certainly be either continued or renewed attacks by Russia,” Coons informed reporters in a briefing on Wednesday.
The Senate invoice will put the $800 million into the Ukraine Safety Help Initiative (USAI), which funds sending direct navy help to Ukraine, gives different assist programs and coaching packages.
The fund, established in 2016, usually receives $300 million per yr from Congress. Coons mentioned it was essential to extend the funding within the face of Trump’s efforts to fully finish U.S. funding for navy assist to Ukraine.
However the $1 billion seems to be a drop within the bucket to the greater than $60 billion Congress authorized in an April 2024 in a supplemental navy help package deal, and as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued an pressing attraction for air protection missiles and long-range munitions that the U.S. is the foremost provider.
“Last night, Russia launched another massive attack on Kyiv: hundreds of Shahed drones and missiles. Air defense shot down many, but not all,” Zelensky mentioned in a speech Thursday, marking 50 years of the Helsinki Remaining Act, which established the OSCE, a discussion board between western Europe and former Soviet Union nations.
“President Trump is truly interested in ending the war. We must do everything we can to make sure the U.S. and Europe act together – for security.”
Trump has spoken out in opposition to the U.S. sending weapons to Ukraine on the expense of the American taxpayer and didn’t request funding for Ukraine in his 2026 price range. A Home model of the Protection appropriations invoice had no cash for Ukraine.
However Trump has not fully halted U.S. weapons deliveries despatched with funds authorized through the Biden administration. He’s additionally supplied a fast inexperienced gentle for Ukrainian purchases of navy tools from U.S. corporations.
He has additionally more and more proven frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin because the impediment to a ceasefire and set a deadline of Aug. 8 for Moscow to halt the combating or face monetary penalties. Earlier this month, Trump introduced a deal the place NATO would buy U.S. weapons to ship to Ukraine, a workaround from direct American assist for Kyiv.
The White Home didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the funding.
