Biden Gives Ukraine One More Handout Before Leaving Office

The Biden administration sent approximately $500 million worth of aid to Ukraine on Thursday as the conflict continues to drag on without any clear end in sight.

The equipment covered by Thursday’s funding will include air defense missiles, gear to help Ukraine use F-16 jets, air-to-ground armaments and more. President-elect Donald Trump has clearly stated that he wants to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, and Biden administration officials are arguing that the aid will give Ukraine as much leverage as possible before the two sides potentially head to the negotiating table to end the conflict.

President Joe Biden initially planned to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Italy on Friday, but the trip was called off in light of the ongoing fires that have devastated parts of the Los Angeles area. Meanwhile, Keith Kellogg — Trump’s pick to serve as envoy to Ukraine and Russia — told Fox News on Wednesday that he wants to secure a workable solution to ending the war within Trump’s first 100 days in office.

Zelenskyy reiterated his pleas for NATO to put boots on the ground in the conflict in order to force Russia into accepting peace during a Thursday meeting at the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, according to CBS News. Russian officials have warned that it treats NATO’s involvement in the war as an act of hostility, and that direct involvement of NATO forces in combat will be treated as a direct act of war.

The war has been a bloody one, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties and displacing millions more. After nearly three years of fighting, the two countries are still fighting for control of the frontlines in the eastern region of Ukraine, according to Crisis Group.

As of the end of 2024, the federal government had directed approximately $61.4 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, according to the State Department. Factoring in other forms of aid and activity, the U.S. has set aside $175 billion to spend to help Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.