Ukraine: The Biden administration announced Monday that it is sending $1 billion worth of rockets, ammunition and other supplies from Defense Department reserves to Ukraine, the largest direct delivery of weapons ever made. Ukraine is preparing a potentially decisive counter-offensive in the south against Russia.
The new US arms shipments will help Ukraine as it launches its counter-offensive, which analysts say could eventually give Kyiv control over the rest of the war, which is now half over.
Kyiv wants to force the Russian army to leave Kherson and other southern regions close to the Dnipro River. To thwart a Ukrainian counter-offensive, Russia recently moved troops and equipment in the direction of southern port cities.
Colin Kahl, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, announced the shipment of the new weapons on Monday. "At every stage of this conflict, we are focused on getting the Ukrainians what they need based on evolving conditions on the battlefield," Kahl said.
Additional rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as thousands of artillery rounds, mortars, javelins and other weapons and equipment, are all part of the new US aid. Military leaders and other US officials claim that Ukraine's conflict relies heavily on HIMARS and artillery systems to prevent Russia from gaining more territory.
Although the US has already given 16 HIMARS to Ukraine, Kahl claimed that the new package does not include any more.
These are not the type of systems that, by our estimates, would require hundreds of you to produce the desired results, Kahl said. "Ukrainians are using these precision-guided systems for very specific types of targets."
He did not specify how many of HIMARS' precision-guided missile systems were included in Monday's announcement, but he said the US had recently provided "several hundreds" of them.
With the most recent announcement, the Biden administration has committed more than US$9 billion in security aid to Ukraine.
The largest security aid package announced up to this point was US$1 billion on 15 June. However, that aid includes an additional US$350 million under the Presidential Drawdown Authority and an additional US$650 million under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides funding for security. -Related necessities such as equipment, training, and other necessities that may be purchased from other countries or businesses.
Monday's package allows the US to more quickly deliver weapons systems and other equipment as it removes them from Defense Department stockpiles.
This included 1,000 shoulder-mounted spear rockets, 75,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery, 20 mortar systems and 20,000 rounds for them, as well as additional weapons, explosives and medical supplies.
Russia has focused its efforts during the past four months of conflict to take control of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been in charge of some areas as self-declared republics for eight years.
Russian forces have gradually advanced into the area, launching missile and rocket attacks to restrict the movements of Ukrainian fighters elsewhere.
Kahl estimated that up to 80,000 Russian forces were killed or wounded during the fighting, but he did not break the total with the estimation of the forces killed.
He claimed that although not recently, Russian troops were able to make "incremental" progress in eastern Ukraine. "However, given how well the Ukrainian military has performed and all the support it has received, it has come at an extraordinary cost to the Russian military.
Additionally, I believe that things have essentially stabilized in the East and now the focus is mainly on the South. An additional $40 billion is being provided in economic and security aid for Ukraine that Congress approved in May.
Since August 2021, the Pentagon has given Ukraine equipment from the Defense Department's list 18 times.
According to Kahl, the US and its allies are still debating whether to give Ukraine access to the planes. According to him, "it's not impossible that Western aircraft could be included in the mix in the future."
At the start of the conflict, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky issued requests for warplanes almost daily, claiming they were necessary to protect Ukraine's skies. To avoid being directly involved in Ukraine's conflict with Russia, the US and some other NATO countries have not offered Western aircraft.
On a separate Monday, the Treasury Department announced it was providing an additional $3 billion in direct economic aid to Ukraine. This is a part of the US$ 7.5 billion economic assistance that has already been approved, of which US$ 1.5 billion is yet to be paid.
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