The Biden administration is sending about $125 million in new military aid to Ukraine, the Defense Department said Friday, even as Washington works to get a better understanding of Kyiv’s incursion into Russia and how it advances the broader battlefield goals more than two years into the war,
AP reports.
The latest package of aid includes air defense missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Javelins and an array of other anti-armor missiles, counter-drone and counter-electronic warfare systems and equipment, 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, vehicles and other equipment.
The formal announcement came on Friday, which is the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day.
The weapons are being provided through presidential drawdown authority, which means they are taken from Pentagon stockpiles and can be delivered more quickly.
The aid comes as Ukrainian forces continue to broaden their surprise offensive into Russia, where officials say they have taken about 100 square kilometers (62 square miles) of territory in the Kursk region. Russian troops, meanwhile, are making gains in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, around the city of Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his first visit Thursday to the border area where his forces launched the offensive on Aug. 6. He said Kyiv’s military had taken control of another Russian village and captured more prisoners of war.
The latest package of aid brings the total amount of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to more than $55.7 billion since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
