Ukrainian service members unpack Javelin anti-tank missiles, delivered by airplane as a part of the U.S. army help package deal for Ukraine, on the Boryspil Worldwide Airport outdoors Kyiv, Ukraine February 10, 2022.
Valentyn Ogirenko | Reuters
The U.S. is sending Ukraine superior rocket-launcher techniques and 1,000 Javelin missiles as a part of the Biden administration’s newest effort to arm the Ukrainian troopers fighting off Russia’s invasion, the Pentagon mentioned Wednesday.
The brand new spherical of army help for Ukraine totals $700 million, the administration mentioned. It is the eleventh help package deal that the U.S. has despatched Ukraine, and the primary to return from the $40 billion that Congress allotted for Kyiv final month.
Here is what else is included within the newest batch of safety help for Ukraine, based on the Pentagon:
- 4 Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket Programs, often known as HIMARS, and ammunition;
- 5 counter-artillery radars;
- Two air surveillance radars;
- 1,000 Javelins and 50 Command Launch Models;
- 6,000 anti-armor weapons;
- 15,000 rounds of 155mm artillery;
- 4 Mi-17 helicopters;
- 15 tactical automobiles;
- Spare components and tools.
With that new help, the Biden administration has despatched about $4.6 billion to Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February, based on Pentagon spokesman Todd Breasseale.
Greater than $7.3 billion in U.S. safety help has gone to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, Breasseale mentioned.
President Joe Biden sketched a tough define of the most recent help package deal in an opinion essay printed Tuesday in The New York Occasions.
“I’ve determined that we are going to present the Ukrainians with extra superior rocket techniques and munitions that can allow them to extra exactly strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Biden mentioned, including that the U.S. may also proceed to ship “Stinger antiaircraft missiles, highly effective artillery and precision rocket techniques, radars, unmanned aerial automobiles, Mi-17 helicopters and ammunition.”
Biden additionally wrote that the U.S. doesn’t need Ukraine to fireside these rockets into Russia.
“We aren’t encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike past its borders. We don’t need to extend the struggle simply to inflict ache on Russia,” he wrote.
Precision rockets fired from HIMARS launching techniques can journey greater than 43 miles, according to the U.S. Army.
Washington obtained a dedication from Kyiv to not strike Russia with the U.S. weapons, Beneath Secretary of Protection for Coverage Colin Kahl mentioned at a press briefing Wednesday afternoon. Biden and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the problem, Kahl mentioned.
The U.S. is “aware” of the likelihood that the brand new provide of weapons might escalate the battle with Russia, Kahl mentioned. After the publication of Biden’s essay, the Kremlin accused the U.S. of “intentionally pouring oil on the hearth,” news outlets reported.
However Kahl maintained that “Russia would not get a veto” on what tools the U.S. can present Ukraine.