Ukraine is to receive weapons worth $400 million from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) programme in the near future. The Pentagon confirmed this, said Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in the United States, Denys Sienik, in an interview with the television channel ICTV, as reported by the news outlet Ukrinform on Tuesday, 10 November.
“Today we received positive news from the Pentagon regarding the $400 million under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) that were earmarked for this fiscal year,” Sienik said, according to Ukrinform. He said they were now waiting for more detailed information from the Pentagon, but hoped “that we will see additional deliveries for Ukraine’s defence forces in the near future”. The US side had promised concrete deliveries, but the details still had to be agreed with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.
The sum has been disputed for months. According to Ukrinform, the US Department of Defense had announced the $400 million in military aid one day before the end of the fiscal year. However, the administration of President Donald Trump informed Congress that it would not use the full amount. The money is to be paid out in instalments up to and including 2029. According to Ukrinform, Sienik had previously stated that Ukraine had not yet received any information from the government about what needs the Pentagon intended to use the funds for.
Patriot missiles remain the sore point
Kyiv’s most important concern remains speeding up deliveries of PAC-3 interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defence system. “The Pentagon still points to a shortage of missiles both for the US itself and for other allies,” Sienik said. “They understand the Ukrainian side’s priorities very well, and we continue to emphasise that.”
According to Ukrinform, the diplomat said that members of Congress and senators from both parties were raising the issue; Ukraine also wanted to discuss it with the US State Department. “If the resources and funding are already there, the logical question arises: why are we waiting so long for these interceptor missiles?” Sienik said. The speed and sequence of US weapons deliveries depended on decisions by the US government – both for aid under the PURL programme and for bilateral deliveries from contracts already concluded under the USAI framework.
Sienik named as further urgent needs missiles for F-16 fighter aircraft, maintenance services and spare parts for these aircraft, as well as missiles for the NASAMS and Hawk air defence systems.
At the end of October, Washington moved on the Patriot issue: on 30 October, the US State Department approved the possible sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles to Ukraine worth around $2.1 billion, as reported among others by the Berliner Zeitung. The procurement was to be financed by partners and allies, including Germany, Canada and Norway. However, this did not entail a delivery: according to the news agency Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the decision, the missiles would first have to be produced, and a delivery was expected only some years after the start of the 2030s. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the approval but pressed for faster aid and, according to the Berliner Zeitung, called for a winter package of 100 interceptor missiles per month.
Ramstein meeting on 17 November
According to Sienik, Ukraine is preparing for the next meeting in the Ramstein format, scheduled for 17 November. He said the embassy and the Ministry of Defence were actively working on the date. Members of Congress and senators from both parties were interested in Ukraine’s needs and were working on legislative initiatives and documents to support it, the chargé d’affaires said.
Much is at stake for Kyiv: according to Ukrainian assessments, air defence is reaching its limits while Russia continues to attack with drones and missiles. The $400 million from the USAI programme is therefore more than an accounting item – it helps determine how dense the protective shield over Ukrainian cities will remain in the coming months. Whether and when the promised deliveries actually arrive depends, by Sienik’s own account, on decisions in Washington that Kyiv cannot make itself.
