Biden announces a nearly $3 billion package of arms and equipment for Ukraine.
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WASHINGTON — President Biden said on Wednesday that the United States would deliver nearly $3 billion worth of arms and equipment to Ukraine, its largest single package of military aid aimed at helping the nation battle Russian forces.
The announcement, on Ukraine’s Independence Day and the six-month anniversary of the war, signaled Mr. Biden’s continuing determination to assist in the fight against Russia’s invasion.
In a statement, Mr. Biden said the latest financial assistance would allow Ukraine to purchase “air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term.”
The effort to bolster Ukraine’s military, which has garnered bipartisan support in Congress, has now delivered more than $10 billion worth of weapons and other equipment. The aid announced on Wednesday is part of the $40 billion assistance package Congress approved in May.
Mr. Biden acknowledged the suffering of the Ukrainian people, but pledged to ensure that the country’s sovereignty would be protected.
“Thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks,” he said. “But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in their 31 years of independence.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the White House has prioritized sending weapons and military goods from the Pentagon’s own stockpiles to Ukraine, authorizing more than $8 billion in rockets, missiles, firearms, vehicles and other hardware from Defense Department supplies.
But Wednesday’s announcement could signal a significant shift in how the United States will support Ukrainian forces in the future. The $3 billion President Biden pledged will go to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, a fund that allows Ukrainian leaders to purchase military goods directly from the defense industry.
Shifting the source of Ukrainian military supplies from the Pentagon’s own stockpile, which is large but not limitless, to items newly manufactured by the defense industry indicates that the White House and military leaders are transitioning to a sustainable model Kyiv can depend on for an open-ended war with Russia.
“This announcement represents the beginning of a contracting process to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine in the mid- and long-term to ensure Ukraine can continue to defend itself as an independent, sovereign and prosperous state,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement emailed to reporters Wednesday afternoon. “It is the biggest tranche of security assistance for Ukraine to date.”
The fund was set up in the wake of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and according to a report from the Congressional Research Service, disbursed more than $1.3 billion to Kyiv from 2016 to 2021, which has gone toward sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, counter-artillery radars, patrol boats, night vision devices and other matériel.
According to General Ryder, the $3 billion announced on Wednesday will be used for six new NASAMS air-defense missile systems and additional ammunition for the two NASAMS launchers the United States previously provided with Security Assistance Initiative funds in July, as well as up to 245,000 additional rounds of 155-millimeter artillery ammunition and 65,000 rounds of 120-millimeter mortar ammunition — up from the 561,000 155-millimeter and 20,000 120-millimeter rounds previously sent to Ukraine. The money will also purchase more drones and anti-drone systems, laser-guided rockets and radars designed to track incoming enemy artillery fire.
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