From Reuters:
“US to send $300 million in
new weapons package for Ukraine”
The United States will send a new
military aid package for Ukraine worth $300 million, President Joe Biden's
administration said on Tuesday, the first such move in months as additional
funds for Kyiv remain blocked by Republican leaders in Congress. The White
House has been scrambling to find ways to send more military assistance given
the situation on the battlefield and the resistance to the funding from
Republican hardliners. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the
funding was coming from unanticipated cost savings from Pentagon contracts and
would be used for artillery rounds and munitions for High Mobility Artillery
Rocket Systems (HIMARS). "This ammunition will keep Ukraine's guns firing
for a period, but only a short period," Sullivan told reporters. "It
is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine's battlefield needs and it will not
prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition," Sullivan said.
The new weapons package was first
reported by Reuters earlier on Tuesday. The last drawdown was in December 2023
when funds to replenish stocks fell to zero. U.S. officials have also looked at
options for seizing some $285 billion in Russian assets immobilized in 2022 and
using the money to pay for Ukraine weaponry. The announcement came as Poland’s
president and prime minister meet President Joe Biden at the White House later
on Tuesday to talk about ways to bolster support for Ukraine. Using the funds
that have been returned to replenish stocks opens a narrow window to urgently
allow more aid to be sent from existing stocks as the Biden administration
waits for supplemental funding to be passed by lawmakers.
Biden, a Democrat, has backed
military aid to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, while his
likely Republican opponent in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, former president Donald
Trump, has a more isolationist stance. Republican House of Representatives
Speaker Mike Johnson, an ally of Trump, has so far refused to call a vote on a
bill that would provide $60 billion more for Ukraine. The measure has passed
the Democratic-run Senate, and both Republicans and Democrats in the House say
it would pass if the chamber's Republican leaders allowed a vote.
Leaders of U.S. intelligence
agencies urgently pressed members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday to
approve additional military assistance for Ukraine, saying it would not only
boost Kyiv as it fights Russia but discourage Chinese aggression.
Ukraine President Volodymyr
Zelenskiy said on Monday that the situation along the front of the country's
war with Russia was the best in three months, with Moscow's troops no longer
advancing after their capture last month of the eastern city of Avdiivka. Zelenskiy,
in an interview with France's BFM television, said Ukraine had improved its
strategic position despite shortages of weaponry, but suggested the situation
could change again if new supplies were not forthcoming. He said earlier that
Russia is preparing a new offensive against Ukraine starting in late May or
summer. Zelenskiy has said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since
February 2022. Russia's capture of Avdiivka gave the Kremlin's forces breathing
room in defending the Russian-held regional center of Donetsk, 20 kilometres
(12 miles) to the east. Earlier this month, a top military commander said that
Ukrainian troops were forced to leave several settlements neighboring Avdiivka
due to Russia's continued offensive amid its own depleting stockpiles of
munitions.
Denmark will provide a new
military aid package including Caesar artillery systems and ammunition to
Ukraine worth around 2.3 billion Danish crowns ($336.6 million), the Danish
Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. European Union countries are
set to agree on a new 5 billion-euro ($5.46 billion) top-up to a fund used to
finance military shipments to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday,
citing four officials briefed on the discussions.
^ This is no where near enough to
help Ukraine. The House Republicans are needlessly playing around with Human
Lives just to better themselves. ^
https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-u-preparing-weapons-package-145016873.html
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