The United States has announced a whopping new package of arms and munitions for Ukraine worth $2.5 billion, defying Moscow’s repeated warnings against supplying Kiev with heavy weaponry almost a year into the devastating war.
The US has by far been the largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine, despite Moscow’s warnings that it would only prolong the protracted war.
According to the US Defense Department, the new military package will send Stryker armored personnel carriers for the first time to Ukraine and also provide “critical support” for the country’s air defense amid the raging conflict.
“This package provides additional NASAMS munitions and Avenger air defense systems to help Ukraine counter a range of short and medium-range threats and bolster Ukraine’s layered air defense,” said a news release by the department on Thursday.
It stressed that the package does not feature Western battle tanks requested by Ukraine, but includes 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 90 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers, 53 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, and 350 high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, as well as large and small munitions.
“The 59 Bradley IFVs included in this package, together with the 50 Bradleys previously committed on January 6, and the 90 Stryker APCs will provide Ukraine with two brigades of armored capability,” the statement noted.
The massive package, announced a day before an international coalition meets in Germany to discuss more military aid to Ukraine, is the second-largest ever announced by Washington.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was a “significant new security assistance package to help Ukraine continue to defend itself against Russia’s brutal war”, adding that the package brings US military assistance for Ukraine to some $27.4 billion.
The top diplomat said the package includes additional armored vehicles, including Stryker armored personnel carriers, Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled vehicles, Avenger air defense systems, and surface-to-air missiles among other items.
He emphasized that the United States “continues to rally the world to support Ukraine”, rebuffing repeated warnings from Russia.
Since the start of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine last February, the United States and its European allies have supplied hundreds of armored vehicles to Kiev as part of large military packages.
The UK announced last weekend that it would send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, Denmark promised 19 French-made Caesar howitzers, Sweden its Archer artillery system, and Germany said last week it would provide the country Marder armored vehicles.
Germany has been cautious about supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz facing mounting pressure within Europe to authorize exports of German-made Leopard tanks.
It follows a warning by Moscow against an “extremely dangerous” escalation if the West meets Ukraine’s latest calls for longer-range missiles.
“Potentially, this is extremely dangerous, it will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level, which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
Source: Bloomberg
