President Biden asks Congress to extend the $5.8B drawdown for Ukraine into the next fiscal year.

The Biden administration has sent a request to Congress to extend the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) mechanism for providing weapons to Ukraine until 2025 so that the remaining $5.8B will be available after the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

“We have $5.8B remaining for Ukraine under the PDA mechanism. All but $100M of that amount must be used by the end of the fiscal year. The Department of Defense will continue to provide aid packages to Ukraine under this mechanism for the foreseeable future and is working with Congress to continue the PDA, which is in effect beyond the end of the fiscal year,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said.

If the funds fail to be extended, the White House could announce a mega-aid package for the total amount by October 1 and then gradually send these weapons in small batches. However, this is considered a worse option than receiving an extension on the PDA, as there may be certain legal difficulties with allocating the remaining amount all at once.