In a surprise and stunning admission, given only a week ago these words might have been unthinkable coming straight from the White House, Biden's national security council spokesman John Kirby bluntly admitted that funding for Ukraine is "coming near the end of the rope" and is "not going to be indefinite."
He had said the words in a Wednesday afternoon press briefing wherein he unveiled a new $200 million arms package for Ukraine, which is drawn from previously Congressionally approved funds.
WATCH: White House spokesperson John Kirby announces that funding for Ukraine is "coming near to the end of the rope" and is "not going to be indefinite."
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) October 12, 2023
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Kirby detailed that this latest package includes HIMARS ammunition, artillery shells, anti-tank weapons, and other equipment. Here's what he said:
"In the near term, we've got appropriations and authorities...for Ukraine and for Israel, but you don't wanna be trying to bake in long-term support when you're at the end of the rope."
But interestingly this new $200 million was apparently surplus from the infamous "accounting error":
According to the Pentagon, the $200 million package for Ukraine used funds made available by a Pentagon “accounting error” that overvalued previous arms shipped into the conflict. As the White House has been struggling to get Congress to authorize more Ukraine spending, the Pentagon has said it has about $5 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the US to ship weapons straight from its own military stockpiles.
According to more details of the package, the $200 million will purchase:
- AIM-9M missiles for air defense
- Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (c-UAS) equipment
- Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
- 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds
- Precision aerial munitions
- Electronic warfare equipment
- Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles
- AT-4 anti-armor systems
- Small arms and more than 16 million rounds of small arms ammunition
- Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing
- Spare parts, training munitions, maintenance, and other field equipment
In more "normal" times we might expect Kirby's bluntly asserting that Ukraine funding is "not going to be indefinite" to result in a massive D.C. beltway and mainstream media uproar, but those same MSM politicians pundits are now consumed with Israel-Gaza developments.
John Kirby says Ukraine aid is "coming to the end of the rope." An odd idiom for the occasion, similar to being "at the end of one's rope," which is generally interpreted to mean running out of patience and/or the inability to deal with a problem. Was Kirby being accidentally… pic.twitter.com/fiw16RnFm4
— Chebureki Man (@CheburekiMan) October 12, 2023
The spotlight has certainly moved away from Ukraine. Instead, the administration is preparing to bolster urgent defense aid to Israel as it continues anti-Hamas operations in Gaza. The Pentagon has said it is committed to doing "both" - that is providing defense aid and weapons to Israel and Kiev. Military assets are now being moved to the eastern Mediterranean region.
