The Senate Appropriations Committee announced on Thursday that the Trump Administration has agreed to release $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, which had previously been frozen.



The administration had been reviewing a lot of aid and questioned whether or not US interests were advanced by the arms deal. Congress pushed for such arms transfers to continue, on the grounds it would encourage Ukraine to fight ethnic Russian separatists.



The aid had been delayed for months, and if it hadn’t been authorized by the end of September it would have been canceled. The administration appears to have ultimately decided to give Congress what they want.



The suggestion is that some in Congress were threatening to hold up billions of dollars in funding to the Pentagon, and this is ultimately what freed up the aid. White House interest in cutting into the foreign aid budget means this is likely to continue to be an issue in years going forward.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz