The Pentagon can give Ukraine $5 billion worth of weapons

Mike McCord, the US Department of Defense's chief financial officer, said that the Pentagon has $5 billion worth of weapons for Ukraine by the end of the year, but only $1.6 billion to replace them.

McCord said this in an interview with Bloomberg.

Weapons that the Pentagon transfers to Ukraine are usually taken from warehouses, and the department uses the funds to sign contracts with defense companies to replace them.

As a Pentagon spokesperson explained, without additional funding approved by the US Congress, the US Defense Department can only dispose of $1.6 billion for replacement contracts.

"We want to constantly replenish the stockpile and send a signal to the industry about the constant demand for funding and contracts to keep the momentum going. And we've already had to slow it down because we see a real prospect of a shutdown," McCord told Bloomberg.

If Congress does not approve and the US President does not sign bills to fund the federal government - long-term or temporary - by the end of Saturday, the country will be in a shutdown.

In August, the White House proposed that Congress approve $40 billion in additional funding by the end of the year, of which $24 billion was to be used to help Ukraine and related needs. But this was opposed by the right wing of Republicans in the US House of Representatives.

Author - Olena Madiak, 28/09/2023