US to send more military aid to Ukraine amid Congress trip to Kyiv

According to U.S. officials, more military aid is on its way from the U.S. to Ukraine. The latest package includes about $500 million worth of equipment and ammunition and $2.1 billion in longer term aid. This brings the total amount of U.S. aid to Ukraine to $35 billion since Russia invaded in 2022.

Earlier this year, a poll found support for more Ukraine military aid was softening among Americans. Some, including former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., have questioned whether Washington should stop the aid. During a visit to Kyiv on Monday, April 3, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said despite this, support is still overwhelming.

“There are those on the left and on the right who question continued support or the amount of support. That will certainly be part of the debate,” Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, said. “But overwhelmingly, there is support for continuing the aid to Ukraine, so that they can continue to fight against this aggression of Russia.”

Rep. Turner was joined on his brief visit to Kyiv by Reps. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, Rich McCormick, R-Ga., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill.

Rep. Stewart said the American people would continue supporting aid when U.S. resources were being used judiciously. He added that NATO members should be fulfilling their commitment to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

“Most of them have not done that except for a few of the smaller countries,” Stewart said. “The American people also look at this and go, ‘this is in Europe’s backyard. They should be at least as invested in this as we are’ and I don’t know that we can assure them right now that that’s the case.”