WASHINGTON ― U.S. President Donald Trump will seek at least another $250 million in security aid for Ukraine in his 2020 budget request to Congress, including lethal Javelin anti-tank weapons, according to a senior Pentagon official.
“Assuming of course the Congress authorizes and appropriates it, we will continue that. We do envision continuing lethal aid assistance to Ukraine," Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said Wednesday at a roundtable with reporters. That disclosure was unusual so far ahead of the budget request’s formal presentation, typically in February or March.
New Javelins have cleared the congressional approval process, and it is up to Kyiv to formally request the weapons, which Ukrainian officials have hailed in their military’s fight against Kremlin-backed separatists on the front line of the standoff between Russia and the West.
A $39 million sale of 150 anti-tank missiles and two additional missile launchers is pending, on top of the 200 missiles and 37 launchers the U.S. sold Kyiv in 2018, Bloomberg and others reported last month.
Rood denied reports the U.S. had barred Ukrainian troops from using those weapons on the front lines, calling them “not accurate” and arguing that U.S. requirements are aimed at protecting sensitive, American technologies transferred to Ukraine from being diverted to third parties.
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2019/12/04/trump-to-seek-250m-in-new-lethal-aid-to-ukraine/