US announces additional $325 million in military aid for Ukraine
The United States has announced an additional package of military aid for Ukraine worth $325 million, including artillery rounds and anti-armor weapons, on the same day that Kiev confirms receiving US-made Patriot missile systems.
The package was announced on Wednesday, including additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), advanced missiles, and anti-tank mines.
"This security assistance package includes more ammunition for US-provided HIMARS and artillery rounds, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, logistics support vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine’s defenders on the battlefield," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
In addition to the HIMARS ammunition, the package includes artillery rounds; tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided (TOW) missiles; anti-tank mines; port and harbor security equipment, and over nine million rounds of small-arms ammunition, a Statement Department spokesperson said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine’s defense minister said his country had received the US-made Patriot surface-to-air guided-missile systems.
A Patriot surface-to-air defense missile system was acquired by Ukraine last week from Germany.
The Netherlands announced it would supply parts of the advanced air defense system to Ukraine, specifically two launchers and missiles.
The Ukrainian defense chief Oleksii Reznikov said that the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands had "kept their word" after promising to provide Ukraine with the missile system.
Russia has been carrying out what it calls a special military operation against its neighbor since last February. Moscow says the operation aims to stop Kiev's persecution of pro-Russian population in eastern Ukraine and to "de-Nazify" the ex-Soviet republic.
Kiev has, ever since the onset of the conflict, been pressing its Western allies for a constant and increasingly-improving flow of state-of-the-art weapons.
The US aid package, which was announced on Wednesday, was the 36th security package for Ukraine since the start of the war, and brings total US military assistance for the Kiev government to more than $35.4 billion in that time.
Russian officials have, however, repeatedly warned that further armament of Kiev would only prolong the conflict.
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