The United States will provide Ukraine with another $1.2 billion in long-term military aid to further strengthen its air defences as Russia continually attacks Ukraine with Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones and missiles, including surface-to-air missiles.
This was announced yesterday by US government officials, the Associated Press reported, and the new package is expected to be officially announced today. The money will be provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
Unlike American equipment, weapons and ammunition, which are currently sent to Ukraine directly from Pentagon warehouses to save time, this money will be spent over the next months or even years. The long-term goal of this initiative is to meet Ukraine’s future security needs.
The money will finance the purchase of HAWK air defence systems (covered in detail here by Yuriy Svitlyk), anti-aircraft ammunition and UAVs for air defence. According to officials, it will also include artillery, missiles, satellite imagery, and funding for routine maintenance and spare parts for various systems. As the new aid package has not yet been officially announced, the information was provided on condition of anonymity.
Faced with economic sanctions and restrictions on its supply chain due to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been turning to Iranian Shahed drones to bolster its firepower. And US aid packages – including urgent military weapons and support – include systems to shoot down and otherwise destroy the drones.
If this amount is taken into account, the US has provided almost $37 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion last February. The decision on the new aid comes at a time when the Ukrainian military is preparing for a counter-offensive against Russian troops, and air defence remains a pressing issue.
Recently, the Ukrainian military, using the Patriot air defence system (see Yuri Svitlyk’s review here), was able to shoot down a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile for the first time since the beginning of the invasion. According to the Ukrainian Air Force Command, the X-47 missile was fired by a MiG-31K from Russian territory and shot down over Kyiv region.
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