Current funding for Ukraine should last for much of the year - Blinken

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies at a House Appropriations Committee's State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing on President Biden's proposed budget request for the Department of State for fiscal year 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 23, 2023. REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reassured members of Congress on Thursday that the billions of dollars already approved for Ukraine should last for much of the year, and insisted that measures were in place to ensure it is well spent.

"I have 45 people at our embassy in Ukraine whose job is to oversee the expenditure of these monies," Blinken told a House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee at a hearing focused on the State Department budget request.