The U.S. is sending one other spherical of assist to Ukraine that features further ammunition for Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket Techniques (HIMARS) as a part of a bundle price $275 million, the State Division confirmed Friday.
The newest assist means the U.S. has offered roughly $17.9 billion in assist to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February, a State Division spokesperson stated. The newest bundle can be anticipated to incorporate 500 precision-guided 155mm rounds; 2,000 155mm rounds of Distant Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Techniques; 125 Excessive Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Automobiles (HMMWVs); greater than 1,300 anti-armor methods; small arms and greater than 2.7 million rounds of small arms ammunition; and 4 satellite tv for pc communications antennas.
“The USA will proceed to face with greater than 50 allies and companions in assist of the individuals of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and independence with extraordinary braveness and boundless dedication,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a press release.
Earlier this month, the U.S. dedicated one other 4 HIMARS to Ukraine as a part of a $625 million arms bundle. That bundle additionally included artillery methods, ammunition and armored automobiles.
The U.S. has thus far pulled 20 HIMARS from its personal shares for Ukraine. The superior rocket methods and munitions permit Ukraine to focus on Russian command posts, ammunition hubs and assist areas past the frontlines.
The anticipated announcement comes as Ukraine and its allies, together with the U.S., warned Russia in opposition to utilizing a “soiled bomb” — a tool that makes use of typical explosives to unfold radioactive materials — in Ukraine. Russia’s protection minister had claimed in a sequence of calls with protection officers from different international locations that it was Ukraine that was making ready to detonate such a tool in its personal territory, an accusation that the U.S. and several other allies known as “transparently false.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday additionally claimed, after months of rising tensions, that he had no intention of utilizing nuclear weapons in Ukraine, in response to The Related Press.
“We see no want for that,” Putin stated, in response to AP. “There is no such thing as a level in that, neither political, nor army.”
Russia lately unleashed a wave of assaults utilizing Iranian-made self-detonating drones round Kyiv and different areas.
The Biden administration has promised 18 extra HIMARS by way of a contracting course of that can take “a couple of years” to ship to Ukraine, a senior protection official stated final month.
Margaret Brennan and Eleanor Watson contributed reporting.
