Biden sending aid to help Ukraine keep fighting next year: Blinken

Associated Press Kyiv: The Biden administration is determined in its final months to help ensure that Ukraine can keep fighting off Russia's full-scale invasion next year, sending it as much aid as possible so that it might hold Russian forces at bay and possess a strong hand in any potential peace negotiations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20,” when president-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in, Blinken said. NATO countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilised forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength,” Blinken said during a visit to Brussels.

The US will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Blinken said, without providing details. The almost three-year war has shown no signs of winding down. Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday. That came a day, after the Pentagon said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow's war effort, are fighting to drive Ukraine's army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.

Ukraine is also straining to hold back a month-long Russian onslaught in the eastern Donetsk region. Political uncertainty over how a US administration under Trump will change Washington's policy on the war is a key new factor in the conflict. US military aid is vital for Ukraine, but Trump has signalled that he doesn't want to keep giving tens of billions of dollars to Kyiv.