~$60 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine has FINALLY been approved!
The Sleeping Giant has awakened, and the near future is likely to be much more grim for autocratic war mongers
In this post, I will simply aggregate some of the details about the new aid package and past aid from the U.S. (as well as links to external sites like Wikipedia which also includes details on ALL aid from ALL countries to Ukraine since the war began in 2014).
I may write one or more essays in future which are more condensed and synthetic. But for now, I just want to get a post out that documents the scale and significance of this aid package
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The total package size is ~$60,000,000,000 in estimated value. I have seen reference to $61B in total so the actual number for the estimated value may light between those two ($60 and 61 B).
https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ukraine-aid-breakdown-timeline/32822804.html
Very little of it is liquid assets (e.g., currency or securities) given to Ukraine. Much of it is being given as a lend-lease, not a grant (so ostensibly Ukraine will be obliged to pay it back over the long-term). A large fraction of it is effectively an investment in the U.S. military industrial complex, which will create jobs in the U.S. and promote economic growth in the U.S.
Prior to this package U.S. aid to Ukraine had totaled $44,100,000,000 in value since the war began in 2014. Approximately $41.3B was provided between Feb 2022 and April 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_aid_to_Ukraine_during_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War
If we annualize aid to Ukraine over the past 10 years it works out like:
2014 to 2022: $2,800,000,000 over 8 years = $350,000,000 per year
In hindsight that was NOT ENOUGH to deter Putin and prevent his escalation. Not nearly enough.
2022 to 2024: $41,300,000,000 over 2 years = $20,650,000,000 per year
In hindsight, still NOT ENOUGH to force Putin to back down, abandon Ukraine and attempt peaceful means to preserve his regime, and restore the international standing of the Russian Federation.
2024: $60,000,000,000 in one year (so far, more might be allocated later this year if it is deemed necessary).
Effectively the rate at which the U.S. is providing help to Ukraine to fight our most serious rival has gone from an average of $350m per year to ~$20.65B per year (a 5,900% increase); and then from there to $60B per year (an additional 290% increase compared to the first two years since the full scale invasion and a 17,142% increase compared to the first 8 years of the war). This sends a clear message to Putin, to Xi, to the Iranian leadership, and to the North Korean despot de jure: fuck around and find out.
If the pattern was reversed, and ~$60,000,000,000 in "lethal aid" had been given in the first years after Russia breached Ukrainian sovereignty (ca. 2015 or 2016), then very likely that would have been sufficient to deter Putin indefinitely. The concern expressed by U.S. leadership (and European leadership too) at the time was that providing lethal aid was a risk of "escalating." Ten years later, this strategy of appeasement and isolationism has proven to be completely ineffective and arguably made matters much worse than they might have been had the U.S. and the West more broadly taken its self-interests in protecting Ukrainian sovereignty seriously in 2015.
I say 2015, but there was really no reason to delay lethal aid even that long. A new democratically elected government was formed in Kyiv in summer 2014 if memory serves and it was already clear that Ukraine was going to prevail against the Russian invasion poorly disguised as "separatists," even though it was a lot of hard fighting and much of Ukraine was de facto annexed by Russia already.
According to Wikipedia (as of 24 April 2024, so presumably does not include the most recent "$61 billion" package that was just approved today) aid from U.S. military aid to Ukraine:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_aid_to_Ukraine_during_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War
Below I quote Wikipedia’s table that lists U.S. aid up through the present (and not including the stuff that will now go to Ukraine as part of the new $60 billion package.
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In total, the United States has committed more than $44.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2014, including approximately $41.3 billion since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022.[626]
Tanks
31 M1A1 Abrams delivered by October 2023[627]
45 T-72B tanks (manufactured by Excalibur Army, purchase and upgrade financed by USA) [delivered from December 2022 onwards]
Infantry fighting vehicles
186 M2A2 ODS Bradleys [Delivered from April 2023 onwards][628]
Armoured personnel carriers[626][178]
300 M113s [Delivered from July 2022 onwards]
300 armoured medical treatment vehicles [To be delivered]
250 M1117 ASVs [To be delivered]
157 Strykers [Delivered from March 2023 onwards][629]
Command vehicles[626]
4 Bradley Fire Support Team vehicles [February 2023][178]
10 command post vehicles
Mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles[626]
440 International M1224 MaxxPro [Delivered from July or August 2022 onwards][178]
37 Cougars [February 2023][178]
Oshkosh M-ATVs [March 2023][178]
289 Unknown MRAPs [To be delivered. 108 pledged in January 2023, 181 more pledged in February 2023][178]
190 MRAPs to the Ukrainian Border Guard Service [To be delivered][630]
Infantry mobility vehicles[626]
2,000+ Humvees [Delivered from April 2022 onwards][178]
100+ Light Tactical Vehicles [To be delivered][178]
Combat engineering vehicles
At least 1 M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle [Before November 2023][631]
Other vehicles[626]
68 trucks and 124 trailers to transport heavy equipment
6 armored utility trucks
100 armored medical treatment vehicles
89 heavy fuel tankers and 105 fuel trailers
8 logistics support vehicles
Towed artillery[626]
180 155mm M777 howitzers [Delivered from April 2022 onwards][178]
72 105mm Howitzers [To be delivered][178]
Self-propelled artillery[626]
18 155mm "Paladin" M109A6s [May 2023][178][632]
Multiple rocket launchers[626]
20 227mm HIMARS [June 2022] (further 18 to be delivered)
Surface-to-air missile systems[626][178]
8 NASAMS Batteries [Delivered from November 2022 onwards]
2+ MIM-23 Hawk firing units [February 2023]
Unknown number of MIM-23 Hawk Phase III missiles and missile systems [To be delivered] (US buying back after Taiwan decommissioned the system in June 2023)[633]
20 AN/TWQ-1 Avengers [Delivered from December 2022 onwards]
1 Patriot Battery [April 2023][634]
Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns[626]
9 Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (c-UAS) gun trucks [To be delivered]
Man-portable air defense systems
Over 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft systems[626]
Anti-tank missiles
Over 10,000 Javelin anti-armor systems.[626]
Over 80,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions.[626]
Over 7,000 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles.[626]
Other missiles
2 AGM-84 Harpoon (Launcher and an unknown number of missiles) [July 2022][178]
Precision-Guided Munitions (PGMs) [July or August 2022] (Fired from MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter aircraft)[178]
AGM-88 HARMs [Delivered from July or August 2022 onwards] (Fired from MiG-29 fighter aircraft)[178]
Laser-Guided Rockets (Believed to be APKWS) [Delivered from April 2022 onwards][178]
RIM-7 missiles for air defense [To be delivered] (For use by Ukrainian Buk SAM systems).[626][178]
Over 6,000 Zuni aircraft rockets.[626]
Over 20,000 Hydra 70 aircraft rockets.[626]
ADM-160 MALD decoy missiles [May 2023].[635]
AIM-7 and AIM-9M missiles for air defence.[626]
Electronic warfare equipment[626][178]
Electronic jamming equipment [May or June 2022]
Vampire counter-unmanned aerial systems [To be delivered]
Helicopters[626][178]
20 Mi-17V5s (originally destined for Afghanistan) [Delivered from April 2022 onwards]
Drones[626][178]
100 Switchblade 300 kamikaze drones [April 2022]
10 Switchblade 600 kamikaze drones [To be delivered]
300 Switchblade kamikaze drones of unknown type [Delivered from April 2022 onwards]
1,801 Phoenix Ghosts [To be delivered]
RQ-20 Pumas [April 2022]
15 Boeing Insitu ScanEagles [To be delivered]
Jump 20 reconnaissance UAVs [To be delivered]
Altius-600 reconnaissance UAVs [To be delivered]
CyberLux K8 reconnaissance UAVs [To be delivered]
Penguins reconnaissance UAVs [To be delivered]
Radars[626][178]
26 AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder weapon-locating radars [Delivered from April 2022 onwards]
AN/TPQ-37 weapons locating radars [Before April 2023]
4 AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel air surveillance radars [April 2022 onwards; 4 more pledged in February 2023]
Over 70 counter-artillery and counter-mortar radars [At least 4 delivered from April 2022 onwards]
20 Multi-mission radars [To be delivered]
Engineering equipment[626][178]
M58 Mine clearing line charge [Delivered before October 2022]
22 M1089A1P2 and M984A4 HEMTT [Delivered around October 2022]
8 M88A2 Hercules [Delivered around October 2022]
6 Unspecified tactical recovery vehicles [Delivered by February 2023]
300+ tactical vehicles to tow weapons
71 tactical vehicles to recover equipment
30 ammunition support vehicles [To be delivered along with M109 artillery]
18 armored bridging systems
Ships and underwater vehicles[626][178]
16 Mark VI patrol boats [17 June 2020][636][637]
10 Dauntless Sea Ark Patrol Boats [Delivered from September or October 2022 onwards]
2 Small unit riverine craft (SURC) [To be delivered]
6 40-foot riverine patrol boats [To be delivered]
Unmanned Coastal Defence Vessels (USVs) [To be delivered]
40 Armoured riverine boats [To be delivered]
Mortars[626]
47 120mm mortar systems
10 82mm mortar systems
122 81mm mortar systems;
58 60mm mortar systems;
Over 35,000 grenade launchers and small arms;
Ammunition[626]
Over 2,000,000 155mm artillery rounds
Over 7,000 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds
Over 14,000 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems
100,000 rounds of 125mm tank ammunition
200,000 152mm artillery rounds
40,000 130mm artillery rounds
40,000 122mm artillery rounds
60,000 122mm GRAD rockets
500,000 105mm artillery rounds
10,000 203mm artillery rounds
Over 400,000 mortar rounds
Over 1,800,000 rounds of 25mm ammunition
Over 300,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition
M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions
C-4 explosives, demolition munitions, and demolition equipment for obstacle clearing
Military gear[626]
Over 100,000 sets of body armor and helmets
Explosive ordnance disposal equipment and protective gear
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear protective equipment
Cold weather gear
Miscellaneous equipment[626]
Obstacle emplacement equipment;
Tactical secure communications systems
Four satellite communications antennas
SATCOM terminals and services
Thousands of night vision devices, surveillance systems, thermal imagery systems, optics, and laser rangefinders
Commercial satellite imagery services
Over 350 generators
Medical supplies to include first aid kits, bandages, monitors, and other equipment;
Field equipment and spare parts
An industrial 3D printer for producing components and repairing military equipment.[638]
Training
Trained Ukrainian troops since April 2015 as part of JMTG-U (Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine)[639]
"Small number" of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.[640]
Financial aid:
$1 billion loan on 4 March 2014.[641][642][643]
$560 million on 12 May 2017 via the 2017 Consolidated Appropriations Act.[644]
$350 million on 12 December 2017 via the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.[645]
$200 million on 20 July 2018.[646][647][648]
$200 million on 19 January 2022.[649][650][651]
$13.6 billion in combined military and humanitarian aid for "responding to the situation in Ukraine", via the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 on 15 March 2022.[652][653]
8 August 2022 the World bank announced a $4.5 billion grant from the United States government to the Ukrainian government, meant for funding social payments, healthcare services and pensions.[654]
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Below I quote the text in the above linked Wikipedia article as it stands to day 24 April 2024 which synthesizes the details of Aid to Ukraine since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014
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In total aid (military, financial and humanitarian combined), the European Union and its countries have provided the most to Ukraine, according to Kiel Institute, whereas the United States has by far provided the most in military aid.[1][2] Since January 2022, mostly Western nations have pledged more than $380 billion in aid to Ukraine, including nearly $118 billion in direct military aid to Ukraine from individual countries.[3]
Some NATO countries and allies, such as Germany and Sweden, have reversed past policies against providing offensive military aid in order to support Ukraine, while the European Union for the first time in its history supplied lethal arms through its institutions.[4][5][6]
The Russian government has condemned the supply of military aid to Ukraine. Russia's president Vladimir Putin said that if military aid stopped, Ukraine would not survive for long.[7] The Center for Strategic and International Studies assessed in December 2023 that if the United States stopped sending military aid, European countries could not quickly fill the gap. If this happened, it forecast that Ukraine's defensive capabilities would gradually weaken and Ukraine's frontline would collapse.[8]
Donors
The donation of military aid was coordinated at monthly meetings in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, throughout the war. A first meeting took place between 41 countries on 26 April 2022, and the coalition comprised 54 countries (all 30 member states of NATO and 24 other countries) at the latest meeting on 14 February 2023.[9] All EU member states donated military aid both individually as sovereign countries and collectively via EU institutions, except of three countries (Hungary, Cyprus and Malta) that opted not to donate military aid individually as sovereign countries.
As of February 2023, military aid was donated by EU institutions, 45 sovereign countries, companies, and other parties. The United States alone has pledged about $45 billion in arms and military aid to Ukraine since Russia's Full-scale invasion in February 2022.[10]
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Alright! That will do it for now. As I said, I just wanted to capture all of these details TODAY before things start to get murky from mixing the new with the old, and provide that to readers.