U.S. News
US announces additional $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine [Video]
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Pentagon officials announced Wednesday that the U.S. plans to send another $1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
- The military aid package will include artillery, coastal defense weapons and ammunition.
- The Biden administration has already approved about $5.6 billion in security assistance for Ukraine since February,
The Biden administration announced Wednesday its plan to send an additional $1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. The U.S has already made a total of $5.6 billion pledged to the war-stricken nation since February.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the new military aid during a phone call, according to the White House. The package includes additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems.Â
The $1 billion additional package will be coming from two sources of security aid. Roughly $350 million is a drawdown of weapons from Defense Department inventory, while the $650 million is sourced from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds used to obtain industry contracts to make weapons.Â
The USAI funds will be used to procure two vehicle-mounted launchers for Harpoon anti-ship missiles. A defense official said the launchers should be available to Ukraine in a few months.
The latest security aid comes as Russian forces ramp up their attacks in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley presided over a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday. The meeting, which was attended by delegates from more than 45 countries, centered on how to provide Ukraine with the security aid it needs.Â
Ukraine has asked for multiple launch rocket systems in order to give them more standoff from the bombardment of Russian artillery.Â
The fighting in the east is a block-by-block fight in most cases, with the Russians taking one street and the Ukrainians fighting to take it back, CBS News reported.
Milley said Wednesday that about three-quarters of the city of Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region were in Russian control, “but the Ukrainians are fighting them street-by-street, house-by-house, and it’s not a done deal.”
He added that both nations are taking significant losses. Ukraine is losing an estimate of 100 soldiers a day, according to Milley while Russia has lost about 20-30% of its armored force.
Source: CBS News
chicklet55
June 18, 2022 at 11:40 pm
I for one am fed up with our hard-earned tax dollars going to everyone BUT AMERICAN CITIZENS! Charity begins at home, or it should. We need to take care of our people who have been suffering for 2 years, especially the last 17 months because of the puppet pResident and his handlers. The U.S. can’t even feed its own babies but our tax dollars sent pallets upon pallets upon pallets of formula and everything else babies/children need to the border for the ILLEGAL ALIENS who do nothing to benefit this country but suck off the teats of the taxpayer. And once all of our money and weapons go to Ukraine and the rest of the world turns against us, what will we have left to fight back with? NOTHING…and it’s all by the design of the elitist who wants to turn this country into a socialist, 3rd world hellhole. Between all of the failures, this pResident has been and caused, sky-high gas prices, food prices out of this world, food shortages, and many more to come due to the burning down of our food plants, killing off the birds and chickens, and cows, and all of it intentional, we are just about there. I sure can’t afford to go to the beach and party but the Ukrainians can.