US announces $2.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine
- 3 July, 08:56
Washington announced a new $2.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday. The announcement comes after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that the US would soon provide Kyiv with more air defense interceptors and critical munitions.
"I am proud that the U.S. will soon announce more than $2.3 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine. This package under presidential drawdown authority will provide more air defense interceptors, anti-tank weapons and other critical munitions from U.S. inventories," Austin during a meeting Tuesday at the Pentagon with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. The US official stressed that the aid package will enable the U.S. to procure more Patriot and interceptors.
The meeting took place ahead of the NATO summit which will be held in Washington, D.C. in July.
The new package includes $150 million in artillery rounds, interceptor missiles and anti-tank weapons, according to the Pentagon. An additional $2.2 billion will be purchased for Ukraine from US arms manufacturers under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a program that takes longer to supply the weapons but provides longer-term support for Kyiv. The USAI portion includes Patriot and NASAMS air defense missiles, two of the systems that have been critical in defending against ongoing Russian aerial barrages.
While announcing the military package on Wednesday, the Pentagon said the Biden Administration was planning to accelerate delivery of these munitions by re-sequencing upcoming Foreign Military Sales deliveries for Ukraine.
