The United States intends to send another $2 billion in military support to Ukraine and 18 nearby countries at risk of Russian attack, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday during a visit to Kyiv.
A new weapons package: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also on Thursday announced another package of weapons to Ukraine worth up to $675 million, a pledge made as he met with allies working to keep Ukraine equipped “over the long haul” amid the Russian invasion.
A list released by the Pentagon detailed the contents of the package, including:
- four 105mm Howitzers and 36,000 accompanying artillery rounds
- ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
- additional High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARM)
- 100 Humvees
- 50 armored ambulances
- anti-tank systems
- small arms
The further $2.2 billion: Both the Pentagon and State Department also announced that the Biden administration has informed Congress of its “intent to make a further $2.2 billion available in long-term investments under Foreign Military Financing to bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors; including many of our NATO Allies, as well as other regional security partners potentially at risk of future Russian aggression.”
Roughly half of that money will go toward Ukrainian security and the other half split between Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
State of war: Ukrainian forces are working to push Russian troops from the northeast part of the country around Kharkiv and in the south near Kherson, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday highlighting “good news” about recapturing unnamed settlements from the Kharkiv region.
But Russia is showing no sign of backing down, with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday defiantly claiming his country has “not lost a thing” from the war in Ukraine and the tight sanctions it has triggered.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, estimated in August that Russia has suffered around 70,000 to 80,000 casualties in under six months.
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