US releases $400 million in military aid for Ukraine

The United States has released $400 million in military assistance for Ukraine, officials have confirmed, after the funds were previously approved by Congress but faced delays in disbursement.

The package had earlier drawn criticism from a leading Republican senator overseeing defence spending, who accused the Pentagon of holding up the aid, Caliber.Az reports, citing Bloomberg.

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who chairs the Senate committee on defence appropriations, raised the issue in an article published this week in The Washington Post.

He said aid approved months earlier was “collecting dust at the Pentagon,” and that requests from the Senate appropriations committee had received only evasive responses from the policy office led by Deputy Defence Secretary Elbridge Colby.

McConnell also noted that Colby had previously been involved in decisions to suspend arms deliveries to Ukraine.

However, during a House committee hearing, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the funds had already been released.

The financing was “allocated for European capacity building, and as of yesterday it was released,” Hegseth stressed, without providing further details.

The funding is part of a $400 million package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the Pentagon to procure equipment from US defence contractors for Ukraine.

The allocation was included in the National Defence Authorisation Act passed by Congress in December 2025.

Pentagon officials clarified, however, that the funds have not yet been contractually committed and that their use will depend on what weapon systems Ukraine ultimately chooses to procure.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov