US President Joe Biden has announced a new security assistance package for Ukraine worth about $3 billion as Kyiv celebrates 31 years of independence from Russia
This is the single largest tranche of military aid to Kyiv since Moscow’s invasion six months ago.
“I am proud to announce our biggest tranche of security assistance to date: approximately $2.98 billion of weapons and equipment to be provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, ” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
“This will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it can continue to defend itself over the long term.”
Kyiv can use these funds for immediate war costs, including acquisitions of supplies and arms, and are separate from the previously announced Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), under which the US president has been able to order transfers of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine’s forces from existing US military stockpiles.
Over the past six months, the US government has approved $10.6 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.
Unlike most previous packages, this latest tranche largely aims at helping President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government secure its medium- to long-term defense posture, an official familiar with the matter told media. Earlier funds, mostly drawn under the PDA, focused mainly only Kyiv’s more immediate needs for weapons and ammunition and involved material that the Pentagon already has in stock that could be shipped in short order.
As the Russia-Ukraine conflict drags on, US military assistance is shifting to a longer-term campaign that will probably keep more US military troops in Europe in future.
The US President also lauded Kyiv’s resistance against Russian invasion, which was launched in February earlier this year
“Six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in their 31 years of independence,” he said.
“Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people.”
Six months after Russia invaded Ukraine, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin termed a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, the war has slowed to a grind, as both sides trade combat strikes and small advances in the east and south.
In Ukraine, a sense of an eerie calm before the storm grew on Tuesday as the U.S Embassy told its citizens to leave Ukraine because of fears of possible Russian missile strikes as the country celebrates its 31 years of independence on Wednesday.
Kyiv has warned Moscow of a powerful response if it launches such strikes.