US announces new $400 million arms package for Ukraine

(Patria) - The US announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday, as Kyiv struggles to contain the advance of Russian troops in the northeastern Kharkiv region, AP reported.

This is the third tranche of aid to Ukraine since Congress passed additional funding in late April after months of stalemate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Thursday that his country is facing a "really difficult situation" in the east, but said a new supply of American weapons is coming and that "we will be able to stop them".

The package includes HIMARS rocket systems and rockets for them, as well as ammunition for Patriot and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, artillery, anti-aircraft and anti-tank ammunition, and a range of armored vehicles, such as Bradley and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.

It will also provide numerous coastal and river patrol boats, trailers, demolition munitions, anti-radiation fast rockets, protective equipment, spare parts, and other weapons and equipment. The weapons are being sent through presidential drawdown authority, which pulls systems and munitions from existing US stocks so they can get to the front quickly.

Also on Friday, the State Department approved a proposed emergency sale of HIMARS to Ukraine for an estimated $30 million. The department said Ukraine requested to purchase three rocket systems, which would be funded by the German government.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined that an emergency exists that supports the "immediate sale" to Ukraine. The systems will come from the Army’s inventory.

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said the latest aid package is partly intended to help Ukraine defend itself against growing Russian efforts to take Kharkiv. Kirby said Russia has already launched initial incursions into areas around the towns of Vovchansk and Lyptsi, near Kharkiv.

"It is possible that Russia will make further advances in the coming weeks, but we do not expect any major breakthroughs," Kirby said.

"And over time, the influx of US aid to Ukraine will enable it to withstand these attacks throughout 2024."

The US has now provided about $50.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in
February 2022. Almost immediately after President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion aid package, the Pentagon announced it was sending $1 billion worth of weapons via drawdown authority.

Just days later, the Biden administration announced a $6 billion package funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for long-term contracts with the defense industry and means it could take months or years for the weapons to arrive.

Russia has sought to take advantage of Ukraine’s ammunition and manpower shortages as the flow of Western supplies has dwindled since the outbreak of war while Congress struggled to pass legislation. Moscow has concentrated troops in the east and north and is gaining the upper hand on the battlefield, Zelenskyy said.

Officials did not say whether the latest package includes more long-range ballistic missiles, known as Army Tactical Missile Systems, which Ukraine has repeatedly requested. The US secretly sent a number of the missiles to Ukraine for the first time this spring, and the White House said it would send more. Ukraine has used them to bomb a Russian military airfield in Crimea.

The new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the range, up to 300 kilometers, than it had with the medium-range version of the weapon it received from the US in October."