The United States has promised to support Ukraine “as much as necessary,” but that does not mean aid will remain at the level of 2022 and 2023, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Thursday.

In early December, Republicans in the US Senate blocked a $61 billion aid bill for Ukraine.

President Joe Biden asked Congress to provide this aid to Ukraine, but Republicans refused to approve the aid without an agreement with Democrats to increase security along the US-Mexico border.

At the end of last year, the US announced the allocation of $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, the last tranche available without a second vote in the US Congress, reports AFP:

The package is aimed at weapons and equipment, including air defense ammunition and artillery.

Miller said Thursday that aid to Kyiv would continue “as much as needed,” but “that doesn’t mean we’re going to continue to support them at the same level of military funding that we had in 2022 and 2023.”

“We don’t think it should be necessary because the goal is for Ukraine to eventually get on its feet and help Ukraine build its own military-industrial base so that it can both finance and build and buy munitions for their property. But we’re not there yet, and that’s why it’s so important that Congress passes a bill on additional funding, because we’re not yet at the stage where Ukraine can only defend itself. And that’s why it’s important that Congress support Ukraine, and that our European allies and others around the world support Ukraine,” Miller said.

The United States is the largest donor of military aid to Ukraine, with a total amount of about 45 billion dollars since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops in February 2022.

Miller’s remarks came as the United States has exhausted available aid to Kiev and has “no other magic pot” to turn to if Congress fails to pass a new funding package, a spokesman for the US National Security Council said on Wednesday. John Kirby.

Revival of the defense industry of Ukraine

Ukraine is increasingly focusing on increasing its military-industrial potential, which, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, will triple by 2023, The Kyiv Independent notes.

Allies of Ukraine also promised to facilitate this process.

The executive director of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, said at the beginning of December that the company plans to build the first armored vehicles in Ukraine in the summer of 2024.

Later, Ukrainian and American officials signed a declaration of intent on joint production of weapons.

However, it is not clear how Ukrainian domestic production could fill the gap created by the reduction in US military aid.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba gratefully said that “we don’t have a plan B (if the American aid ends, no), we are sure of plan A.”