The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation that provides approximately $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine.

The funding was included in the fiscal year 2026 Defense appropriations legislation and was pushed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). The bill advanced in the committee by a vote of 26 to three.

It includes $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine and $225 million in security assistance for Baltic countries. Coons earlier told reporters that the funding for the Baltics — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — is likely to go towards those countries' support for Ukraine, saying the total for Kyiv can be viewed as $1 billion.

“The secretary of the Army rightly calls Ukraine the Silicon Valley of warfare. The navy considers the maritime fight between Russia and Ukraine as the Black Sea battle lab, and recognizes the need for rapid innovation,” McConnell said at the committee’s meeting on Thursday.

“But abandoning the........

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