The Pentagon will send $1 billion in air defense and artillery shells to Ukraine
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The US will send a massive $1 billion package of military weapons – including long-range missiles, munitions, drones and vehicles – to Ukraine now that Congress has approved the funding. The Senate approved a foreign aid package Tuesday evening that includes $61 billion for war-torn Ukraine. The first tranche of arms is expected to land in Kiev within days.
“I’m going to make sure that shipments begin immediately,” President Joe Biden said Wednesday shortly after signing the bill at the White House. “In the next few hours, literally, a few hours.” Within minutes of Biden’s announcement, the Pentagon released a detailed list of weapons and equipment headed to Kiev.
For the first time, the assistance package includes long-range ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile Systems. Kiev has promised not to use the weapons on Russian territory. The aid package also includes Bradley fighting vehicles, Stinger air defense ammunition, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, 155-millimeter artillery ammunition, TOW and Javelin anti-tank ammunition, demolition weapons and other weapons that can be immediately deployed to the battlefield, officials told Reuters .
The total foreign aid package of $95 billion, including billions for Israel and Taiwan, was passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday after months of frustration. Speaker Mike Johnson assembled a bipartisan coalition to pass the legislation as several members of his conservative wing opposed it.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. has a robust logistics system in place and is “doing everything we can to respond quickly” once the bill is signed. Ryder said the US has warehouses of military equipment in Europe and could tap them to get aid to Ukraine within days.
“We certainly understand and appreciate the urgency and are ready to take action quickly,” he said. Russia has stepped up its bombing of Ukraine in recent weeks. US military officials have described the situation in Ukraine as “serious.”
CIA Director Bill Burns testified before Congress earlier this month that Ukraine could lose the war by the end of this year without U.S. support. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently told lawmakers that Russia is making gains as Ukraine faces ammunition shortages.
“We are already seeing things on the battlefield starting to shift a bit in Russia’s favor. We see them making incremental gains. “We see that the Ukrainians are being challenged when it comes to holding the line,” he said. The latest wave of weapons will be delivered through the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which takes systems and ammunition from existing US stockpiles and quickly sends them to the war front.
Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, the US has sent more than $44 billion in weapons, maintenance, training and spare parts to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Britain on Tuesday pledged another $620 million in new military supplies for Ukraine, including long-range missiles and 4 million rounds of ammunition.
