U.S. officers mentioned Tuesday that the Biden administration has despatched as much as $400 million in extra navy help to Ukraine, together with artillery, air protection and mine-clearing gear, to assist replenish Kiev’s forces as their counteroffensive continues.
The bundle retrieved from Pentagon stockpiles consists of a number of Stryker armored personnel carriers, mine-clearing gear and ammunition for Patriot Anti-Missile Techniques and the Nationwide Superior Floor-to-Air Missile Techniques, or NASAMS, officers mentioned.
The bundle additionally consists of ammunition for the Stinger and Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket Techniques, or HIMARS, in addition to ammunition for the Javelin and different anti-tank weapons.
The most recent navy help comes because the Ukrainian counter-offensive within the nation’s southeast strikes extra slowly than anticipated via dense Russian minefields and different defenses. Russia additionally lately launched one in all its most brutal assaults on Odessa, the Ukrainian port metropolis, after the Kremlin withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an settlement that allowed Ukraine’s grain to be exported by sea.
Earlier Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Western allies to supply extra air defenses and different navy help after Russian assaults hit Odesa’s cultural websites and port infrastructure.
“We’ve got to defend Odessa,” Zelensky mentioned in a publish on twitter after talking with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, including: “Ukraine urgently must strengthen its air defenses to guard its historic heritage and proceed the Black Sea Grain Initiative.”
The brand new US help bundle brings the overall quantity of US navy help delivered or allotted to Ukraine to $43 billion since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
