The Pentagon could provide $500 million for Ukraine in 2017
The US Senate has passed the S.2943 bill on Tuesday, which details the Pentagon’s budget for the 2017 fiscal year. The documents states that an amount of up to $500 million will be allocated to the defense needs of Ukraine.
“In order to assist and support, as described in paragraph A, $250 million could be transferred to the Ukrainian government,” the document states.
There is also the possibility of using an additional $250 million as per a separate decision by the Minister of Defense in coordination with head of the US State Department. In order for this to happen, representatives of the administration must convince the US Congress that Ukraine has “made significant progress in the implementation of structural reforms” in the field of defense. This includes fighting corruption and improving government accountability.
The US House of Representatives had adopted a similar bill, H.R.4909, on the Pentagon’s budget in mid-May. Military support for Ukraine in this bill amounted to $150 million.
Procedure states that both bills must go through the approval process where all items, including the funding of operations abroad, will be brought to a common value. Thereafter, the bills must be signed by the US president.
However, the White House Administration has said that President Obama plans to veto the bill in its current form. This is because the budget does not provide the US military with the sufficient funds it needs to achieve security.
The Administration had previously stated that Obama had insisted on additional funds for the fight against the so-called Islamic State as well as for the continuation of other military operations abroad.
The US Senate’s version of the Pentagon’s draft budget allocates $500 billion on these overseas operations. This amount is $200 billion more than this year’s amount.
President Obama had previously promised $1 billion to Kiev to be received after changes were made to the Cabinet.