Pentagon not ruling out supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine this year

She said this at the request of journalists to comment on the likelihood of arms supplies. "The Department of Defense remains in close contact with our Ukrainian counterparts to determine our next steps in defense cooperation," Baldanza said. She also recalled that the U.S. Congress had allocated additional funding for Ukraine within the military assistance in 2016 financial year. As reported, in June last year, the upper house of the U.S. Congress approved the defense budget bill by a majority vote, which inter alia allows providing Ukraine with lethal weapons.