WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the U.S. is providing Ukraine a total of $7.9 billion in defense aid, a commitment he described as a “surge in security assistance” that — coupled with expanded F-16 fighter jet pilot training and other newly unveiled moves — aims to bolster Kyiv before a new president enters the White House.

The announcement, which came ahead of Biden’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also included the provision of the medium-range Joint Standoff Weapon to equip the country’s F-16s, as well as an extra Patriot air defense battery and more Patriot missiles.

“Through these actions, my message is clear: The United States will provide Ukraine with the support it needs to win this war,” Biden said in a statement.

The majority of the aid — $5.5 billion of the $7.9 billion — won’t be translated into individual weapons packages immediately. Instead, Biden said he authorized the aid so it would not expire at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, leaving it available for the Defense Department to tap into through the remainder of his presidency.

The presidential drawdown authority extension was not included in the bipartisan stopgap funding measure that the Senate cleared Wednesday. Through the drawdown authority, weapons are transferred directly from DOD stockpiles overseas.

Separately, Biden directed $2.4 billion in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds for the war effort, under which the U.S. buys weapons directly from industry rather than drawing down existing stockpiles. The funding would go toward additional air defenses, drones, air-to-ground munitions and more, the statement said.

Biden said he has called on the Pentagon to distribute “all of its remaining security assistance funding that has been appropriated for Ukraine by the end of my term in office.” It’s unclear what the balance is.

Biden also ordered the Pentagon to train an additional 18 of Ukraine’s F-16 fighter pilots next year, and he pledged to convene a more than 50-country meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany in October to coordinate widespread support for Kyiv.

He also said the U.S. is acting to “disrupt a global cryptocurrency network, in coordination with international partners” as a means of countering Russia’s sanctions evasion and money laundering tactics.

The announcement, however, notably excludes something Zelenskyy — and U.S. lawmakers — have been vocally advocating: an easing of U.S. restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons to strike targets deeper in Russian territory.

The White House has feared that approving the use of U.S.- and other Western-provided weapons to strike Russian targets could escalate the war.

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