The Biden administration said Monday it was sending its largest-ever but direct arms delivery to Ukraine as the country prepares for a potentially decisive counteroffensive south against Russia, sending $1 billion in rockets, ammunition and other materials in Ukraine from Department of Defense reserves.
The new US arms shipment would further bolster Ukraine as it mounts a counteroffensive, which analysts say for the first time could allow Kyiv to shape the course of the rest of the war, now halfway through the year.
Kyiv aims to expel Russian troops from Kherson and other southern territories near the Dnipro River. Russia in recent days was moving troops and equipment towards southern port cities to prevent a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“At every stage of this conflict, we have been focused on getting the Ukrainians what they need, depending on the evolving conditions on the battlefield,” Colin Kahl, the assistant secretary of defense for policy, said Monday in announcing the new shipment of weapons.
The new US aid includes additional rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, as well as thousands of artillery rounds, mortar systems, javelins and other munitions and equipment. Military commanders and other US officials say the HIMARS and artillery systems have been crucial in Ukraine’s fight to prevent Russia from gaining more ground.
Although the US has already provided 16 HIMARS to Ukraine, Kahl said the new package does not include additional ones.
“These are not systems that we’re evaluating that you need in the hundreds to have the kind of effects” that are needed, Kahl said. “These are precision-guided systems for very particular types of targets and the Ukrainians are using them as such.” He declined to say how many of the precision-guided missile systems for HIMARS were included in Monday’s announcement, but said the US has provided “several hundred” in recent weeks.
The latest announcement brings total US security assistance pledged to Ukraine by the Biden administration to more than $9 billion.
In his evening video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States for the package and said “100% we will use it to protect freedom, our common freedom.” The biggest announcement of the security assistance package to date was $1 billion on June 15. But that aid included $350 million in presidential withdrawal authority and another $650 million under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides funding for training, equipment and other security systems. needs that can be bought from other countries or companies.
Pallets of 155mm shells eventually headed to Ukraine are loaded by the 436th Airlift Squadron, Friday, April 29, 2022, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Monday’s package allows the US to deliver weapons systems and other equipment more quickly by taking them off Defense Department shelves.
In addition to the rockets for the HIMARS, it includes 75,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery, 20 mortar systems and 20,000 rounds for them, 1,000 shoulder-mounted Javelin rockets and other weapons, explosives and medical equipment.
During the last four months of the war, Russia has focused on capturing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have controlled some territory as self-proclaimed republics for eight years. Russian forces have gradually advanced into the region while launching missile and rocket attacks to curtail the movements of Ukrainian fighters elsewhere.
Kahl estimated that Russian forces have suffered up to 80,000 dead and wounded in the fighting, although he did not break down the number with an estimate of the forces killed.
He said Russian troops have managed to gain “incremental” ground in eastern Ukraine, though not in recent weeks. “But this has come at an extraordinary cost to the Russian military because of how well the Ukrainian military has performed and all the assistance it has received. And I think now, the conditions in the east have essentially stabilized and the focus is really moving south.” The new funding is paid for with $40 billion in economic and security aid for Ukraine approved by Congress in May.
This is the 18th time the Pentagon has provided equipment for Department of Defense actions in Ukraine since August 2021.
The United States and its allies are still evaluating whether to supply planes to Ukraine, Kahl said.
“It’s not inconceivable that Western aircraft on the road could be part of the mix,” he said.
Zelenskyy early in the war made almost daily appeals for warplanes, calling them essential to protect Ukraine’s skies.
The US and some other NATO countries feared this could involve them in more direct involvement in Ukraine’s war against Russia, and have not provided Western aircraft.
Separately on Monday, the Treasury Department said it was sending another $3 billion in direct economic assistance to Ukraine. This is part of a previously approved $7.5 billion in economic aid, with $1.5 billion still to be disbursed.