US announces new aid to Ukraine, Musk: Zelenskyy is the "robbery champion"

US President Joe Biden is using the final weeks of his administration to boost aid to Ukraine. On Monday, the United States announced nearly $6 billion in additional military and budgetary assistance for the war-torn country.

Biden announced an additional $2.5 billions in military aid for Ukraine on Monday.

The latest military assistance comprises two packages. A drawdown worth about $1.25 billion uses Biden's prerogative as president to deploy weapons and ammunition directly from the US Department of Defense (DoD) arsenal, whereas the other approximately $1.22 billion, under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, set up by the US Congress, requires a longer period of production and delivery as weapons and ammunition are procured under a new government contract.

Under my direction, the United States will continue to work urgently through the remainder of my term to provide the support Ukraine needs on the battlefield this war," Biden wrote in a statement.

Also on Monday, the US Treasury announced $3.4 billion in additional budgetary assistance to Ukraine.

In a statement, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said that the $3.4 billion in direct budgetary assistance has been delivered following the allocation of the remaining funding from the Ukraine补充拨款法案》 (UCR) for FY22.

Nonpartisan fiscal watchdog the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) reports that since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Congress has approved a total of $175 billion in assistance for Ukraine.

According to the Pentagon, total U.S. military assistance to Ukraine since the onset of the war stands at $65.4 billion.

A US official says that the US, since the start of the war, has given more than $30 billion in budgetary support for Ukraine. Most of the financial aide is being used as salaries for teachers and other government employees to keep the state apparatus going during the conflict.

US President-elect Donald Trump will succeed Biden on January 20. At least for now, it is impossible to know at what speed the United States will send assistance to Ukraine once Trump is in the White House. In the past, Trump had been an opponent of large-scale Ukrainian aid. He has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a "great salesman" (Zelensky had a role in the popular TV series "Servant of the People" before entering politics), and suggested that he would quickly end the war in the former Soviet Republic.

Meanwhile, billionaire and Trump confidant Elon Musk has also voiced opposition to Ukrainian aid, and has been critical of the previous US administration's approach to aiding the country on several occasions.

Musk dubbed Ukraine's president Zelensky the king of swindling the US on Monday.

"Champion of all time," he wrote in a response to a post published on his X account by a user who commented on the US announcing additional billions of dollars of military and budgetary assistance to Ukraine. "The US sent another X billion dollars to Ukraine this weekend. Zelensky just completed one of the greatest money grabs of all time. The only surprise is he actually pulled it off."

Musk referred to Zelensky as the "champion" at swindling America

The Tesla CEO also blasted the US authorities' decision to send more weapons to Ukraine on his X earlier last month. Musk said that decision "is amongst the worst in the history of the USA."

The latest US move is likely to raise eyebrows in the Kremlin. For weeks, the Russian government and its key allies have touted reports that Trump, once he enters the White House, may try to find a negotiated settlement and achieve a cease-fire. The Trump administration could announce, as early as next month, plans for a so-called peace summit on Ukraine. Such peace talks are not new. Under Biden's watch, the Kremlin called for an international conference on Ukraine with NATO countries, the US, and China to attend.

On December 16, Russian Presidential Administration head Yuri Putin said that such a gathering, without Ukraine, would bring "100% peace." The next day, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said he is confident a cease-fire could be established, and a peace agreement could be reached, under Trump. "I hope [Trump] is really able to bring people to common denominators, to make concessions… I'm almost sure," Mishustin, who met with Trump during his first presidential term, said during a televised government meeting. "I have confidence in him that maybe it's possible to somehow pull [the conflict] back… And I hope it's possible [under] this [new] president."

Musk and Trump have touted similar sentiments in recent months, which is at odds with Zelensky's demands. During a recent interview with CBS, the Ukrainian president said that anything short of 100 percent of Ukraine's territory being secured would be a "defeat."

The new US aid was announced as Russia prepared to launch a major winter offensive, with thousands of troops mobilized for possible redeployment to Ukraine. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's defense minister to prepare a large-scale military operation to retake the entirety of the Donbas — an autonomous region in Eastern Ukraine, of which a large chunk was previously under Russian occupation or control before being recaptured by Ukrainian forces earlier in the conflict. The Russian army is set to deploy in the near future new advanced weapons and ammunition.

Putin says that Russia will continue to strike Ukraine's military infrastructure and cities — regardless of whether or not Zelensky agrees to any ceasefire or peace agreement.