The Pentagon expects the military aid portion of President Joe Biden’s new supplemental Ukraine aid proposal to fund weapons shipments for the next five months.
Earlier this week, Biden called on Congress to pass a new $33 billion spending bill that includes more than $20 billion for weapons, ammunition, and other military assistance. The request dwarfs the less than $4 billion the United States has already allocated to Ukraine since Russia invaded at the end of February.
“This funding will probably get us through five months,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday.
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Kirby also provided new details on the U.S.’s training of Ukrainian military members on some of the weapons it has provided to them, including 155 howitzers and Phoenix Ghost drones.
The U.S. is using “roughly three locations outside of Ukraine” for the training, and one of those locations is somewhere in Germany, but the Pentagon is “not at liberty to disclose where they are,” Kirby added.
This is the first time the Pentagon has provided any details on where the training has been taking place. Officials have said the first round of training on the howitzers has been completed and that the U.S. service members are training another group of soldiers, which will take less than a week.
These training sessions are largely being conducted by members of the Florida National Guard, which had been stationed in Ukraine for a training program, though Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered them out of Ukraine before Russia invaded.
“The recent reunion now with these Florida National Guard members with their Ukrainian colleagues we are told was an emotional meeting, given the strong bonds that were formed as they were living and working together before temporarily parting ways in February,” Kirby said. “This new training effort in Germany and other locations in Europe is in direct support of recent U.S. security assistance packages that are designed to help Ukraine win their battles today and build strength for tomorrow.”
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The Florida Army National Guard’s 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team has been executing a train-and-advise mission to develop the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Combat Training Center-Yavoriv since 2015. The 7th Army Training Command oversees the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.
