US: Pentagon asserts Congress must expedite Ukraine aid by May 19 to avoid interruptions

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said that proposed $40 billion Ukraine aid package approved by Congress must be passed "quickly" by Thursday, May 19 to avoid an interruption of US military equipment and weaponry shipments to war-torn country, resisting Russia's aggression. Furr, he informed that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have dispatched a letter to House and Senate requesting immediate approval by end of next week to avoid gap in flow of weapons. 

“May 19 is day we really — without ditional authorities — we begin to not have ability to send new stuff in,” Pentagon's press secretary John Kirby told reporters on Friday, May 13. “It’ll start impacting our ability to provide aid uninterrupted.” 

By May 19-20 US forces shall be rey with aid delivery: Pentagon spokesperson 

Responding to a reporter's question about how soon aid could reach Ukraine's armed forces, or wher approval process would mean a halt in flow of weaponry, Kirby said that $3.5 billion in drawdown authority has alrey been approved in March as part of $1.5 trillion government funding bill. And while it will be exhausted later this month, DoD will ensure that Congress approved ditional funding to avoid hindrances to military aid shipment.

By May 19-20, he said US forces shall be rey with aid delivery. An estimated $100 million in funding is still left to be allocated from $1.5 trillion pool, informed Kirby. And Pentagon has asked Senate “to act as quickly as possible so we don’t get to end of May and not have any ditional authorities to draw back, to draw upon.”

“If we don’t get those authorities soon … it’s possible that re could be a bubble — a period of time in which, you know, re’s just nothing moving and we want to make sure we avoid that,” Kirby said. 

Kirby h asserted earlier at a conference that United States wants Ukrainians to "win" war against Russia. “We want Ukrainians to win this war, to see Ukraine not have to fight for its sovereignty as it has been for eight years," he iterated. He continued that Ukraine “wants to see Mr Putin and Russian army lose this invasion. Ukrainian lives are destroyed and obviously, we want to see that end."