US to fund Ukraine $250m in security assistance

KIEV - The American government intends to provide a 250-million-dollar security assistance fund to Ukraine, US senators Ron Johnson and Chris Murphy said here on Thursday.

According to a report by Interfax Ukraine news agency, the announcement was made at a briefing held by Ron Johnson and Chris Murphy following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

"My colleagues and I met with President Trump, we sent him a letter urging him to use this money to provide assistance to Ukraine already in this fiscal year," Johnson said at the briefing. "If this does not happen," he added, "my colleague Chris Murphy is on the budget committee, we are sure that we'll make an appropriate decision to provide this financial assistance in the 2020 fiscal year."

In the 2019 fiscal year which ends Sept 30, Washington provides Kiev with over 695 million dollars of funds covering security and defense, anti-corruption and political reform, economic growth, energy sector reform, labor protection and humanitarian aid, said John Schutte, the Counselor for Economic Affairs of the US Embassy in Ukraine earlier. This will bring the total US security assistance to Ukraine to $1.5 billion since 2014.