The US will send $1 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine, the largest withdrawal of equipment since the start of the war.
The latest package will include additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), tens of thousands of artillery and mortar rounds, anti-armor systems and armored medical treatment vehicles.
Including this package, the US has now given roughly $9.8 billion in security aid to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office.
The new US aid comes as Kyiv prepares to mount a new offensive in the south, where it hopes to retake the city of Kherson and end Russia’s use of the Dnipro River as a natural barrier.
“The United States stands with allies and partners from more than 50 countries in providing vital security assistance to support Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russian aggression US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
“As this war drags on, the courage and strength of the Ukrainian military and its people become even more evident and even more extraordinary. Together, we will continue to consult closely with Ukraine and carefully augment additional available systems and capabilities calibrated to make a difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraine’s eventual position at the negotiating table,” he added.
Separately on Monday, the US Agency for International Development announced it would provide an additional $4.5 billion to the Ukrainian government to cover part of its budget deficit. The Ukrainian government will receive the first tranche of $3 billion from the new funds in August. Once dispersed, the US will have provided $8.5 billion in direct budget support to Kyiv.
The latest package will include additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or Himars © EyePress News/Shutterstock
Ukrainian forces have already regained some territory in the southern regions in recent months. However, neither side has gained much ground in a war of attrition that has seen bloody artillery duels, both in the south and in the far eastern Donbas region, as Russian forces failed to capture the capital Kyiv in beginning of the invasion.
Colin Kahl, US undersecretary of defense for policy, said Moscow had recently reported some “incremental gains” in eastern Ukraine in the Donbas, but at great cost to the Russian military, which has been reporting a large number of casualties. This was the result of “the good performance of the Ukrainian military and all the assistance that the Ukrainian military had received,” he said.
“Now conditions in the east have stabilized since then and the focus is really shifting south, and that’s partly because the Ukrainians are starting to push south and the Russians have been forced to redeploy their forces there,” he added. .
Kahl said the Russians had suffered a “large number” of casualties: “I think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have suffered probably 70,000 to 80,000 casualties, that is, dead and wounded.”
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Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration, said the West needed to provide much more artillery and longer-range rockets, as well as tanks and aircraft, for Ukraine to retake Kherson.
“We need to significantly increase the number of multiple launch rocket systems, Himars or M270,” Podolyak said in an interview before the US announcement. “If we have 20 to 30 today, there should be 80 to 100 to be effective.”
“Otherwise, it will be a prolonged war. . . it will be a costly war”, he added.