Ukraine will get $800 million in US military aid to manufacture long-range drones on its soil.
The ‘consolation prize’ handout has been confirmed by the Pentagon, the New York Times reported, quoting sources at the US Department of Defense.
Volodymyr Zelensky boasted of the latest aid handout to reporters on Monday, but may still nurse resentment against his Western sponsors over their rejection of his latest 'victory plan'.
Zelensky failed to sell his strategy — including fast-tracked membership of NATO for Ukraine becoming a member of NATO — to Western leaders on his recent tour.
His repeated pleas for approval of long-range missile strikes deep into Russian territory have also fallen on deaf ears.
The US has pumped a total of over $61 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the conflict escalated in February 2022. But the Pentagon’s own dwindling arms stockpiles have resulted in in far smaller US military aid packages in recent months.
Moscow has repeatedly stressed that Western military aid for NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine will only serve to prolong the crisis, and warned that arms shipments are legitimate military targets.