WASHINGTON – The US will send Ukraine one other $400 million in weapons from Pentagon stocks, the twenty fifth military aid package approved by President Biden because the summer of 2021, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
The newest tranche will include several items not seen in previous shipments, including 4 Avenger air defense systems and an undisclosed variety of missiles for HAWK air-defense systems.
“With Russia’s unrelenting and brutal air attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities are critical,” the Defense Department said in an announcement Thursday.
The package also includes additional HIMARS rockets; 21,000 155mm artillery rounds; 500 precision-guided 155mm howitzer rounds; 10,000 120mm mortar rounds; 100 Humvee tactical vehicles; 400 grenade launchers; various small arms and optics; greater than 20,000,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition and “demolition equipment for obstacle clearing.”
Also included are various “cold-weather protective gear” because the fighting, which began with Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, heads into Ukraine’s brutally cold winter months.
The help announcement got here as Russia said it began withdrawing troops from the strategic Ukrainian city of Kherson within the southeast. Kyiv’s forces were cautiously advancing on the town, with presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak saying Russia had troops laid mines throughout Kherson as they pulled out to show it right into a “city of death.”
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday he believed a retreat was underway but added that Russia had amassed as much as 30,000 troops in Kherson and a full withdrawal could take several weeks.
Arkadiy Dovzhenko, who fled Kherson in June, said his grandparents told him Thursday that “the Russians were bringing plenty of equipment into the town and likewise mining every inch of it.”
The HAWK surface-to-air missiles might be used with six HAWK launchers Spain recently pledged to Ukraine. The primary 4 were delivered last week, and Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced the opposite two on Thursday.
“I can inform you that two more launchers might be sent. That is in response to a really specific request made to us by NATO and Ukraine,” Robles said.
Avengers are the Army’s favored shoot-on-the-move air-defense systems because of their lightweight and simply moveable nature. Avengers can fire eight Stinger missiles without delay, that are otherwise typically launched individually using shoulder-mounted launchers.
The US has sent Ukraine greater than $19.3 billion in military and other aide since Biden took office in January 2021. All but $700 million of that total has been dispatched because the Russian invasion began.
With Post wires
WASHINGTON – The US will send Ukraine one other $400 million in weapons from Pentagon stocks, the twenty fifth military aid package approved by President Biden because the summer of 2021, the Pentagon announced Thursday.
The newest tranche will include several items not seen in previous shipments, including 4 Avenger air defense systems and an undisclosed variety of missiles for HAWK air-defense systems.
“With Russia’s unrelenting and brutal air attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities are critical,” the Defense Department said in an announcement Thursday.
The package also includes additional HIMARS rockets; 21,000 155mm artillery rounds; 500 precision-guided 155mm howitzer rounds; 10,000 120mm mortar rounds; 100 Humvee tactical vehicles; 400 grenade launchers; various small arms and optics; greater than 20,000,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition and “demolition equipment for obstacle clearing.”
Also included are various “cold-weather protective gear” because the fighting, which began with Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, heads into Ukraine’s brutally cold winter months.
The help announcement got here as Russia said it began withdrawing troops from the strategic Ukrainian city of Kherson within the southeast. Kyiv’s forces were cautiously advancing on the town, with presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak saying Russia had troops laid mines throughout Kherson as they pulled out to show it right into a “city of death.”
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday he believed a retreat was underway but added that Russia had amassed as much as 30,000 troops in Kherson and a full withdrawal could take several weeks.
Arkadiy Dovzhenko, who fled Kherson in June, said his grandparents told him Thursday that “the Russians were bringing plenty of equipment into the town and likewise mining every inch of it.”
The HAWK surface-to-air missiles might be used with six HAWK launchers Spain recently pledged to Ukraine. The primary 4 were delivered last week, and Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced the opposite two on Thursday.
“I can inform you that two more launchers might be sent. That is in response to a really specific request made to us by NATO and Ukraine,” Robles said.
Avengers are the Army’s favored shoot-on-the-move air-defense systems because of their lightweight and simply moveable nature. Avengers can fire eight Stinger missiles without delay, that are otherwise typically launched individually using shoulder-mounted launchers.
The US has sent Ukraine greater than $19.3 billion in military and other aide since Biden took office in January 2021. All but $700 million of that total has been dispatched because the Russian invasion began.
With Post wires
