WASHINGTON — The US is expected to announce on Tuesday that it will send another $150 million in desperately needed ammunition to Ukraine, as Russia accuses Ukraine of using US-supplied ammunition to punch in Russia or Russian-occupied territory, two U.S. officials said.
Monday, Russia the American ambassador summoned to protest what it says was the use of US-made advanced missiles in a Ukrainian attack on Crimea on Sunday, which reportedly killed four people and injured more than 150.
Crimea, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014 in a manner that most of the world rejected as illegitimate, has long been declared a fair target for Ukraine by its Western allies.
However, the Pentagon said last week that so is the Ukrainian military allowed to use longer-range missiles supplied by the US to strike targets in Russia when the country acts in self-defense. Since the beginning of the war, the US had pursued a policy of not allowing Ukraine to use the weapons supplied by the country to hit targets on Russian territory, for fear of further escalating the conflict.
The continued flow of US ammunition, which will be drawn from existing stockpiles, is intended to help Ukrainian forces fend off intensified Russian attacks.
The upcoming shipment is expected to include ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. That system is capable of firing the longer-range missiles of the Army Tactical Missile System ATACMSAccording to Russia, this would trigger retaliation and could escalate the conflict. One of the US officials said they could not verify whether this aid package included ATACMS munitions, but said the aid did not include cluster munitions.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that had not yet been made public.
The package also includes anti-armor weapons, small arms and grenades and the highly sought-after 155mm and 105mm artillery shells.