US Will Not Continue Supporting Ukraine at Same Level: Official

The United States will not continue to provide Ukraine with the same level of military assistance as it did in 2022 and 2023, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday.

Miller made the statement during a press briefing in which he discussed the war in Ukraine, as well as the Israel-Hamas war and the Islamic State claiming responsibility for a bombing attack in Iran that killed 84 people.

Throughout the war launched on Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022, the U.S. has been Kyiv's biggest provider of both financial and military aid. Ukrainian officials have recently warned that the current supply of weapons they have is inadequate to maintain the pace of the conflict, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently pledged to increase domestic production of arms.

According to Miller, the U.S. will not need to maintain the same rate of weapons supplies to Kyiv, because America is helping Zelensky in his goal of building up Ukraine's own military-industrial base.

Miller emphasized the U.S. policy will continue to support Ukraine in the war "as long as it takes," but he added "that does not mean that we are going to continue to support them at the same level of military funding that we did in 2022 and 2023."

"We don't think that should be necessary because the goal is to ultimately transition Ukraine ... to stand on its own feet and to help Ukraine build its own industrial base and its own military industrial base so it can both finance and build and acquire munitions on its own," he said.

Newsweek contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email on Friday for comment.

Miller acknowledged that such a plan is "not there yet," which is why he said it's "so critical" that Congress pass the supplemental funding bill that would provide about $61 billion in aid for Ukraine.

"We are not yet at the point where Ukraine can defend itself just based on its own," Miller said. "And it's why that it continues to be important for Congress to support Ukraine and continues to be important for our European allies and others throughout the world to support Ukraine."

Zelensky made his vow to increase Ukraine's arms production during a New Year's Eve speech to his people.

"Next year, the enemy will feel the wrath of domestic production," Zelensky said. "Our weapons, our equipment, artillery, our shells, our drones, our naval 'greetings' to the enemy and at least a million Ukrainian FPV [First-Person View] drones."

He added: "All of which we will generously use. On land, in the sky, and, of course, at sea."

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