A group of senators, including representatives of Democrats and Republicans, has called on the Pentagon to release the aid approved by Congress to Ukraine and the Baltic States “without any further delay”.
The senators wrote a letter to this effect to US Defence Secretary Pete Haggseth.
The authors of the letter call for the allocation of the promised $400 million to Ukraine, which has “persistently and courageously repelled four years of Russian onslaught, but its military needs and deserves American support”; and $200 million to the Baltic states, which are regularly “targets of Russian belligerence, threats, and sabotage.”
“We urge you to quickly obligate these congressionally approved funds for Ukraine and the Baltic States, and we ask that you immediately provide the spending plan that was promised to Congress by 15 May. Any further delays, especially amid troubling reports that the Department of Defence is planning to withdraw U.S. troops from the region, jeopardise our ability to properly deter Russia,” the letter reads.
The appeal is authored by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, with Republicans Kevin Cramer and Thom Tillis and Democrats Michael Bennet and Catherine Cortez Masto also signing the document.
Dick Durbin in social network X separately emphasised that further delay in funding for Ukraine and the Baltic States “will only unleash Putin and his war machine”.
In late April, the Pentagon announced $400 million in funding for Ukraine, which had already been approved by Congress, after Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who heads the US Senate’s defence spending committee, criticised the United States Department of Defence leadership for delaying the funds.
“The funding was appropriated as of yesterday,” Pentagon Chairman Pete Hagseth said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on 29 April. He did not provide details.
Senator Mitch McConnell previously raised the issue in an op-ed in the Washington Post this week. “The Ukraine aid we passed months ago is gathering dust at the Pentagon,” McConnell wrote. – When Senate representatives sought an explanation from the department’s policy committee, chaired by Under Secretary Elbridge Colby, they were denied a response.”
US support for Ukraine has dwindled as President Donald Trump insists Europe is funding Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
The US Senate on December 17 approved a sweeping $901 billion 2026 defence policy bill. The document, among other things, includes a section that provides an additional $400 million in funding for Ukraine for 2026 and the same amount for 2027.
In February this year, the US Congress approved $200 million in security assistance for the Baltic states amid Russia’s increased activity on NATO’s eastern flank. The decision was approved as part of the Defence Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026 and ensures continued US support for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as part of the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI). The aid, approved by US President Donald Trump, was retained despite previous attempts at the Pentagon to cancel this line item in the defence budget.