(Washington) The White House announced Friday military aid of $400 million, in the form of equipment and training aid, to “provide assistance to Ukraine,” according to a press release.
This new envelope is unveiled at a time when Russia launches a ground offensive in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, in an attempt to “break through the defense lines”, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. .
This new American shipment contains weapons that Ukraine has an “urgent” need, said the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, in a press release.
These include, among other things, ammunition for Patriot-type air defense systems in particular, missiles for Stinger missile launchers, 155 and 105 mm shells, Javelin missiles, Bradley armored vehicles, patrol boats as well as grenades and spare parts.
Washington is trying to make up for the long months lost while Congress tried to agree on assistance to Kyiv and during which the flow of arms and munitions sent by the United States had dried up.
This is the third US aid announcement in less than three weeks.
At the end of April, the United States unveiled two tranches of aid, for a total of $7 billion.
The United States is Ukraine’s primary military supporter in the face of the Russian invasion and has already committed a little more than $50 billion since the start of the war in February 2022, according to an update made Friday by the Pentagon.
After very long and difficult discussions, the American Congress voted at the end of April for a new envelope of 61 billion dollars to help Ukraine militarily and economically, at the request of President Joe Biden.
The aid announced Friday will be taken from the reserves of the American Department of Defense and therefore immediately available or almost, like the tranche of one billion dollars revealed just after the vote in Congress.
Washington also announced in April much more aid, amounting to $6 billion, this time not in withdrawals from existing stocks but in the form of orders to the defense industry.