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The draft US federal budget for fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023 - September 31, 2024) stipulates allocation of over $6 billion to help Ukraine and NATO allies. Another $1.7 billion Kiev will get via the State Department under a document released by the White House last week. So, direct assistance to the regime will amount to approximately $1 billion to include $753 million in assistance as regards cybersecurity, disinformation and emerging needs, USA Today reported on March 9.
In addition, the draft budget suggests as much as $10.5 billion for humanitarian assistance worldwide, of which $469 million is meant for Ukraine to support its economy, ensure further operation of public services and strengthen energy infrastructure.
Just a reminder: since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, the United States has allocated a total of $113 billion in military and economic aid to the Kiev regime, which is half as much the US Congress provided to the Pentagon in the current fiscal year.
If we compare figures of the current and the next fiscal years, a reasonable question may arise as to why is Washington planning to allocate this little to Ukraine in 2024? Isn’t the US going to halt feeding the Kiev regime? No, of course not. The official draft budget contains mere deceptive amounts aimed to confuse the enemy and public opinion. And real volumes of aid are "hidden" in the military budget’s covert clauses.
But let's not forget that the current democratic administration’s new budget (with its expense side exceeding $6.8 trillion) has yet to be approved by the Congress, and some of its congressmen advocate for reduced military assistance to Ukraine. Still, they don’t seem able to affect defense budget finalization. At the moment, it is difficult to predict the overall amount of aid to Ukraine, but it may well decline over bipartisan discord.
Notably, the draft US defense budget for fiscal year 2024 assumes spending $26 billion (or 3.2%) more than in 2023. In total, the Pentagon has requested $842 billion. As per the budget proposal reference, this implies further support to Ukraine, maintenance of a stronger NATO, willingness to surpass China and contribute to America's global prosperity. And despite the Republicans’ general discontent with President Joe Biden, this record-breaking budget is likely to be adopted. After all, it contains billions of dollars for countering America's key rivals Russia and China, as acknowledged by both parties. Republican congressmen, according to Reuters, intend to reduce the budget by $150 billion at the expense of funds meant for the Ministry of Education, as well as cutting aid to foreign states.
Prior to the upcoming budget discussions, this means President Biden will have to settle with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, whatever the case. And he has already expressed readiness to do this at any point in time.
March 13 will see the Pentagon request $170 billion to replace weapons previously transferred to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported yesterday, referring to an internal DoD document. If we follow the agency's message, these funds will be mainly spent on replenishing ammunition sent to Kiev, and long-range missiles required for a potential conflict with China.
According to an official integrated document obtained by Bloomberg News, the Ministry of Defense will request as follows: $76.8 billion for the Navy and Marine Corps, including $32.8 billion for the construction of new ships; $61 billion for the Air Force, including the US Space Forces; and $24.4 billion for the ground forces. In the accompanying R-1 research and development document, the Pentagon requests another $145 billion, of which $46 billion will go to the Air Force, $27 billion to the Navy and $15.7 billion to the army. Thus, the total requested amount exceeds $300 billion.
The Pentagon needs these funds to purchase 541 Javelin anti-tank missile systems, 28 HIMARS MLRS and 5,016 missiles for them, 831 air-to-air fighter jet missiles, 91 long-range anti-ship missiles for the Navy, and the new Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile system to defeat drones and other low-flying air targets. It is also planned to build two Navy Constellation-class FFG frigates, two Virginia-class submarines and two DDG-51-class destroyers, etc.
Moreover, the Defense Ministry plans to finance the development of a new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, which will cost it $3.7 billion. Another $3 billion is needed to create the B-21 bomber, and $2.3 billion for a program codenamed Next-Generation Air Dominance program (NGAD) to replace the F-22 fighters.
Basically, funds comprised in the 2024 defense budget will end up in the pockets of American giants Boeing Co, Lockheed Martin Corp, Raytheon Technologies Corp, Grumman Corp and General Dynamics Corp, substantially enriching the American military industry. But the Biden administration does not really seem to care. Some economists have succinctly characterized the draft new budget with the proverb "after us the deluge!" The main thing is to win the presidential race in November 2024, and hence the many populist budget lines.
One may assume that the issue of supporting Ukraine within the new draft budget for 2024 will highly likely become a major congressional controversy over the last few years. In turn, the Biden administration, despite growing discontent among the Republican congressmen, will keep using all the tools available and assist the Kiev regime, thus protracting the Ukrainian conflict.
