US Congress intends to allocate funds for weapons for Ukraine
The appropriations bill for the US Department of Defense for the 2018 financial year will include an article on the provision of military assistance to Ukraine, including some for lethal weapons, as stated by Republican Mac Thornberry, the Chairman of the United States House Committee on Armed Services, while answering a question by a TASS correspondent.
"It [the bill] does continue to include military assistance to Ukraine and encouragement that the administration [of US President Donald Trump] provide lethal assistance so the Ukrainians can protect themselves against the aggression that is coming at them from the East," he said while communicating with reporters.
Congress has set aside defense budget funds for defensive weapons for Kyiv for several years; that said, these amounts have gradually been reduced. The Pentagon was also not obliged to use this money. The Department itself has said that they currently allocate only non-lethal assistance to Ukraine.
Thornberry, meanwhile, was unable to confirm the statement of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that Kyiv and Washington would soon sign agreements on weapons supplies, as the Ukrainian leader had announced after meeting with Trump. "I don't know what they talked about when President Poroshenko was at the White House," said the congressman.