WASHINGTON (AP) – In anticipation of a new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a $ 800 million military aid package, including additional helicopters and the first delivery of US artillery.
Ukrainians will also receive armored personnel carriers, armored Humvees, naval drones used in coastal defense, as well as equipment and facilities used to protect soldiers in chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological attacks.
“This new aid package will include many of the high-efficiency weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities in line with the wider attack we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement.
“The continued supply of weapons to the United States and its allies and partners to Ukraine has been crucial in sustaining its fight against the Russian invasion,” Biden added. “This has helped ensure that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has failed in his original military goals of conquering and controlling Ukraine. We can’t rest now. “
Biden announced the aid after talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. It is the latest in a series of $ 2.6 billion in US security aid packages that have been granted to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on February 24. Weapons and aids have played an important role in Ukraine’s successful defense so far.
Biden is under pressure from members of both parties in Congress to expand and accelerate US aid.
Robert Gates, a former CIA director and defense minister, said Wednesday that he believes the administration should push for donations of weapons from NATO members in Eastern Europe, whose arsenals include Soviet-era tanks and other weapons and equipment. can help Ukraine immediately.
“The United States must act 24/7 – how to mobilize equipment and how to bring it into Ukraine and into the hands of Ukrainians,” Gates said in an online forum sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“This is extremely important and urgent, and we should search the arsenals of these countries, and I think they would be cooperative, especially if they are assured that the Pentagon will provide American substitutes for donated weapons.”
The Pentagon said the $ 800 million package announced by Biden included weapons and equipment that would require some training for the Ukrainian military, who are not fully accustomed to US military technology. US and allied forces were present in Ukraine to provide training for eight years before withdrawing before Russia’s last invasion.
The new weapons package includes 18 of the US military’s 155-millimeter howitzers and 40,000 artillery shots, two air surveillance radars, 300 armed kamikaze Switchblade drones and 500 Javelin missiles designed to destroy tanks and other armor. Also included are 10 counter-artillery radars used to track incoming artillery and other projectiles to determine their point of origin for counterattacks.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the delivery of the material would be accelerated, but did not suggest a specific schedule.
“This list came directly from numerous conversations with Ukrainians over the past few days, when we began to see the Russians now begin to change the priority of the battle in Donbass,” he said, referring to Russia’s transition from a failed offensive in northern Ukraine. aimed at Kyiv, the capital, until forces build up in the country’s eastern Donbass region, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.
Ukrainian military personnel will need radar training, as well as Switchblade howitzers and drones, Kirby said. He said the training could be conducted by US troops in Europe and arrangements are being worked out.
“These aren’t very complex systems,” Kirby said, so there may be no need for in-depth training.
Other items in the package include 11 Soviet-era Mi-17 helicopters the United States planned to deliver to Afghanistan before Biden decided to withdraw completely last year. They are transport helicopters that can also act as an attack. The Pentagon had previously sent five Mi-17s to Ukraine, Kirby said.
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