The US has unblocked $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, which was previously withheld.
This was reported by Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth during a hearing in the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Bloomberg reports.
"These funds were allocated for the development of European potential, and as of yesterday they have already been provided," he said.
Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst added that these funds have not yet been allocated under the contract, and how they will be used will depend on what weapons Ukraine wants to buy.
This is money that Congress approved last year as part of the US defense budget for fiscal year 2026. It was allocated for USAI, a program for the production of priority weapons by American companies for the Ukrainian Defense Forces. It has been frozen for a long time. Another $400 million is to be allocated in 2027.
Ahead of the hearing, Senate Appropriations Committee Defense Subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell criticized the Pentagon for months of not contracting for the funds, blaming Elbridge Colby, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, for the delay.
McConnell added that Colby was behind the decision last year to suspend arms supplies to Kyiv and also excluded aid to Ukraine and the Baltic states from the Pentagon’s 2026 budget proposal as “wasteful”. Congress later restored that funding.
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