Biden administration announces more than $2 billion in military aid to Ukraine
Mike Brest
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The Biden administration said on Friday that it would provide a new military aid package to Ukraine worth over $2 billion.
Specifically, the package includes up to $425 million of weapons from U.S. stockpiles, while the remaining $1.75 billion will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which means the U.S. government pays for defense companies to build the weapons that will ultimately then go to Ukraine. It brings the total U.S. military assistance to more than $29 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago.
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The package includes additional ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rockets Systems, additional 155mm artillery rounds, additional 120mm mortar rounds, 190 heavy machine guns, 181 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, 250 javelin anti-armor systems, and 2,000 anti-armor rockets, among other items.
Through the USAI program, the United States agreed to provide Ukraine with two HAWK air defense firing units, anti-aircraft guns and ammunition, equipment to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine’s air defense systems, air defense generators, counter-unmanned aerial systems, four air surveillance radars, and 20 counter-mortar radars, among other weapons.
It also includes longer-range missiles for the first time, specifically the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, though it will not include the ATACMS missiles that have a much longer range. The GLSDB, a guided missile, has a range of roughly 90 miles, while the ATACMS missiles have a range of roughly 200 miles, according to Reuters.
This is the first aid package since President Joe Biden reversed his position and agreed to provide Ukraine with 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks, effectively ending a standoff with Germany about whether to provide tanks. German government officials reportedly said they would not provide their Leopard 2 tanks, or allow any European country that possesses them, to give them to Ukraine unless Biden also gave them the tanks, even as defense officials said the maintenance required made them not an ideal armored vehicle for Ukraine’s needs.
Following Biden’s promise for tanks, Ukrainian officials reiterated their calls for western allies to provide them with F-16 fighter jets and longer-range missiles. The United Kingdom, the U.S., and Germany have also said they will not provide Ukraine with fighter jets, while French President Emmanuel Macron said, “Nothing is off-limits in principle.”
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Officials from Ukraine and Western countries have spoken about the likelihood of renewed Russian offensives in the coming weeks as the conditions get better.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov revealed earlier this week that Ukrainian intelligence estimated that Russia had gathered roughly 500,000 fresh troops on Ukraine’s borders, which Russia would use in a major new offensive by the end of the month.