Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday announced a $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine as he forcefully argued for US leadership around the world.
“The troubles of our times will only grow worse without strong and steady American leadership,” Austin said in his fourth consecutive appearance at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.
The package, which includes more drones and ammunition for a critical rocket system, brings the total US security assistance to Ukraine to $62 billion since the war started nearly three years ago, a key component of keeping Kyiv in the fight. Russia has suffered more than 700,000 battlefield casualties since the war began, Austin said, and “squandered” more than $200 billion.
The US has led a coalition of countries to arm and equip Ukraine’s military since February 2022, and Austin said it would be a mistake to abandon Kyiv.
“This administration has made its choice. So has a bipartisan coalition in Congress,” said Austin. “The next administration must make its own choice.”
Though the outgoing defense secretary did not mention Donald Trump by name, his arguments for American engagement internationally contrasted sharply with the president-elect’s promise of “America first.” Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the value of US aid to Ukraine, and Vice President-elect JD Vance has said in the past that Russia is not an existential threat to Europe.
Austin’s message on the importance of aid to Ukraine came the same day Trump met Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky in Paris before the reopening of Notre Dame. The two met in the Élysée Palace with French President Emmanuel Macron for just over an hour Saturday.
Zelensky described it as a “good and productive trilateral meeting” in a post on social media afterward.
“We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way,” he said, adding that “President Trump is, as always, resolute.”
But key members of Trump’s incoming administration have questioned the value of foreign aid in general and military aid to Ukraine specifically.
Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chair of Trump’s commission to cut government spending, said he intends to examine whether foreign aid is worth the taxpayer dollars.
“How does that actually advance a purpose that serves the US taxpayer in the best interests of the United States of America?” Ramaswamy asked rhetorically on C-SPAN last week.
Austin argued that it is precisely this foreign engagement that helps preserve and uphold what he refers to as the rules-based international order. In a look back at his time as defense secretary, Austin highlighted increased US military cooperation with Japan and the Philippines, as well as new agreements with India and Australia.
The US has also sent $13.6 billion in aid to Israel as part of nearly 400 cases of foreign military sales since its war against Hamas began just over a year ago, Austin said.
“The world built by American leadership can only be maintained by American leadership,” the outgoing secretary said.
