US to Send $300 Million in Munitions to Ukraine With New Aid Package
20:25 GMT 31.05.2023 (Updated: 04:44 GMT 01.06.2023)
© AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
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The Pentagon unveiled a massive new aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday that includes a myriad of ammunition types, from rifles to drone weapons to air defense missiles.
According to a US Department of Defense release, the latest deal is valued at $300 million and is the 39th time the US has given Ukraine equipment from its own arms inventories since August 2021.
The package includes:
Patriot air defense missiles
AIM-7 Sidewinder heat-seeking anti-air missiles
AN/TWQ-1 Avenger air defense systems
FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS)
More ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
155-millimeter and 105-millimeter artillery rounds
105-millimeter tank ammunition
“Precise aerial munitions” of an unstated type
Zuni air-to-ground unguided rockets
“Munitions” for drones of an unstated type
AT-4 shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles
More than 30 million rounds of small arms ammunition
Mine clearing equipment and systems
Demolition munitions for obstacle clearing
Night vision devices
Spare parts, generators, and other field equipment
The huge new package is just the latest in what has become more than $46 billion in military aid for the government in Kiev, which was installed in a US-backed coup in February 2014. That includes $23.5 billion in weapons and equipment taken from US military stores, according to data from the Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
In addition to US aid, Kiev has received military aid from numerous other NATO powers, including the UK, Germany, Poland and Slovakia, much of which included aged Soviet weaponry more compatible with Ukrainian armaments.
31 May 2023, 04:51 GMT
However, more recently, Ukraine has been fielding Western-made, and especially US-made, weaponry to combat Russian forces in several eastern provinces that seceded from Ukraine and joined the Russian Federation.
Most recently, the US reversed its monthslong refusal to give Kiev its F-16 Falcon fighter jets, with officials since beginning the arduous process of training Ukrainian pilots to fly the foreign aircraft. US officials have sent Ukraine two batteries of MIM-104 Patriot air defense systems that have also proven difficult to use effectively.
On Wednesday, White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby told reporters the Biden administration had received “assurances” that Ukraine wouldn’t use the F-16s to attack Russian soil. It remains unclear if that promise includes the five provinces that seceded, as they did so in referenda that the West refuses to recognize.
However, the promise comes in the wake of a new set of drone attacks on Moscow and just days after an armed group crossed the border from Ukraine and attacked several settlements in Russia’s Belgorod Province.
Kirby also claimed Kiev planned to mount a counteroffensive in the summer after having lost control over the strategic city of Artemovsk in Russia’s Donetsk Republic.
"We have been in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts as they have begun their planning for this counter-offensive. We remain in touch with them," Kirby said.
