U.S. defense officials, lawmakers in contact to prevent losing Ukraine aid money over deadline

The Pentagon. Photo: ukrinform.ua

The U.S. Department of Defense is working with Congress not to lose funds remaining from the $60 billion aid package to Ukraine after the end of the fiscal year.

This was stated by Pentagon spokesman General Patrick Ryder, Ukrinform reports.

“At the end of the fiscal year, those authorities would expire. And so right now, we’re continuing to work with Congress to see about getting those (presidential drawdown – ed.) authorities extended to enable us to continue to draw down packages,” said the DoD representative.

At the same time, he noted that before the end of the month, the United States would allocate several more aid packages to Ukraine.

As reported earlier, in April, the U.S. president signed off legislation allowing more than $60 billion to be transferred in security support to Ukraine. The fiscal year in the United States runs until September 30. As of early September, over $6 billion from the total package remained unutilized.

In order for the remaining funding to cross into the next fiscal year, the U.S. administration shall file a corresponding request for Congressional approval.

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