Ukraine getting $2.6 billion more in military aid from Biden

FPI / April 5, 2023

The Department of Defense announced on Tuesday it was sending $2.6 billion more of U.S. military hardware to Ukraine.

Much of the ammunition will be taken from U.S. military stockpiles so they can be in the war zone quickly, including “U.S.-provided HIMARS, air defense interceptors, and artillery rounds that Ukraine is using to defend itself,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. HIMARS are multiple rocket launchers.

“We very much appreciate everything that the United States has done specifically in the last month to help our army prepare itself for the counteroffensive,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels before meeting with Blinken. “The Biden administration has upheld its commitment to provide Ukraine with a lot of what we need and set an example to other allies.”

The DoD said the "security assistance" includes "anti-armor systems, small arms, heavy equipment transport vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine's defenders on the battlefield valued at up to $500 million."

In addition, the DoD said, "we are announcing a significant package of air defense capabilities, as well as artillery and tank ammunition, mortar systems, rockets, and anti-armor systems using $2.1 billion in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds."

The new round of assistance will be the 35th such "drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories" sent to Ukraine that Team Biden has authorized since August 2021.

Here is what the DoD said Ukraine is getting:

<strong>Capabilities in the package</strong>
• Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems
• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
• 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds
• 120mm mortar rounds
• 120mm and 105mm tank ammunition
• 25mm ammunition
• Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles
• Approximately 400 grenade launchers and 200,000 rounds of ammunition
• 11 tactical vehicles to recover equipment
• 61 heavy fuel tankers
• 10 trucks and 10 trailers to transport heavy equipment
• Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair
Spare parts and other field equipment

<strong>Under USAI, the DoD will provide to Ukraine</strong>
• Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS)
• Nine counter-Unmanned Aerial System 30mm gun trucks
• 10 mobile c-UAS laser-guided rocket systems
• Three air surveillance radars
• 30mm and 23mm anti-aircraft ammunition
• 130mm and 122mm artillery rounds
• 122mm GRAD rockets
• Rocket launchers and ammunition
• 120mm and 81mm mortar systems
• 120mm, 81mm, and 60mm mortar rounds
• 120mm tank ammunition
• Javelin anti-armor systems
• Anti-armor rockets
• Precision aerial munitions
• Approximately 3,600 small arms and more than 23,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition
• Seven tactical vehicles to recover equipment
• Eight heavy fuel tankers and 105 fuel trailers
• Armored bridging systems
• Four logistics support vehicles
• Trucks and ten trailers to transport heavy equipment
• Secure communications equipment
• SATCOM terminals and services
• Funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment

Free Press International
[Freedom Is Not Free!]