By LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press)
The US is anticipated to announce on Friday that it will provide about $6 billion in long-term military assistance to Ukraine. This aid will include much-needed munitions for Patriot air defense systems.
The aid package will be financed through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for longer-term contracts with the defense industry. This means it could take many months or years for the weapons to arrive. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.
The new funding, the largest amount of USAI aid sent to date, will include a variety of munitions for air defense, such as NASAM, HIMARS, Patriot munitions, Switchblade and Puma drones, counter drone systems, and artillery.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to announce the aid during a virtual meeting on Friday, with defense officials from Europe and around the world. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, created by Austin and meeting monthly for the past two years, is the primary forum for weapons contributions to Kyiv for the war.
After the White House approved the delivery of $1 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine earlier this week, the aid is expected to reach Ukraine quickly. It includes a variety of ammunition, air defense munitions, large amounts of artillery rounds, armored vehicles, and other weapons.
The aid will be sourced from Pentagon shelves, including those in warehouses in Europe.
The back-to-back packages result from the new funding for Ukraine passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. They provide much-needed weapons for Kyiv to counter the gains made by Russian forces. in the war.
The funding was passed by a bipartisan coalition led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, after Congress was deadlocked for months. The $95 billion foreign aid package, which also included aid for Israel and Taiwan, was approved by the House and the Senate. $95 billion foreign aid package, which also included billions for Israel and Taiwan, passed the House on Saturday, and the Senate approved it Tuesday.
Senior US officials have described dire battlefield conditions in Ukraine as troops run low on munitions and Russian forces make gains.
Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, the US has sent more than $44 billion worth of weapons, maintenance, training, and spare parts to Ukraine.
Among the weapons provided to Ukraine were Abrams M1A1 battle tanks. However, the tanks are now not actively used by Ukraine because Russian drone warfare has made it too risky for them to operate without being detected or attacked, according to two U.S. military officials.
