Kiev will get HIMARS missiles, digital warfare gear, and mine-clearing {hardware}, Washington says
The US is ready to supply one other $600 million value of navy help to Ukraine to be used in its battle with Russia, the Division of Protection has stated.
Based on a press release issued by the Pentagon on Thursday, the brand new bundle will embrace gear for air-defense programs, further ammunition for HIMARS a number of rocket launchers, 105mm artillery rounds, digital warfare instruments, demolition munitions for impediment clearing, and mine-clearing {hardware}.
The help is being offered via the Ukraine Safety Help Initiative (USAI), which permits the Biden administration to obtain weapons from the protection business as an alternative of taking them from present US navy shares.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Kiev on Wednesday, promised Ukraine $1 billion in help from Washington, together with $665.5 million for navy provides.
“We need to guarantee that Ukraine has what it wants not solely to succeed on the counteroffensive, however [also] in the long run,” Blinken informed journalists in Kiev.
On the identical day, the Pentagon introduced that Kiev can be getting one other $175 million value of American gear, together with depleted uranium shells for Abrams M-1 tanks. Based on Politico, ten of the 31 US-made important battle tanks are anticipated to reach in Ukraine in a matter of weeks.
Russian Deputy International Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated this was a “felony transfer” by the US. “It’s not simply an escalatory step, however a mirrored image of Washington’s outrageous disregard for the environmental penalties” of utilizing depleted uranium shells on the battlefield.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov known as the event “very dangerous information” and referred to a rise in most cancers circumstances on the territory of former Yugoslavia the place depleted uranium munitions had been used throughout the NATO bombing marketing campaign of 1999. Peskov additionally stated the continuation of American navy help for Kiev was an indication of the Biden administration’s intention to maintain “waging a warfare to the final Ukrainian.”
On Tuesday, the Russian Protection Ministry stated that, throughout the three months of its counteroffensive, Ukraine had misplaced some 66,000 troops and seven,600 items of heavy weaponry however failed to attain any vital beneficial properties. Kiev has thus far claimed the seize of a number of small villages, however they’re situated far from the primary Russian protection strains.
Russia has repeatedly warned that deliveries of weapons to Ukraine by the US and its allies will solely extend the combating, however gained’t forestall Moscow from reaching the targets of its navy operation. Russian officers additionally argue that the supply of arms, intelligence-sharing and the coaching of Kiev’s troops already implies that Western nations have de facto change into events to the battle.
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