Washington — The United States will provide another $1. 1 billion in aid to Ukraine, with investments for about 18 more complex rocket systems and other weapons to counter drones that Russia opposes to Ukrainian troops, Biden’s leadership said Wednesday.
The newest package is provided under the Security Assistance Initiative for Ukraine, which funds contracts for the acquisition of weapons and equipment. And that raises overall U. S. aid. The U. S. government has moved to Ukraine at about $17 billion since Biden’s management took office.
The aid announcement comes as Russia prepares to annex parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine that have held Kremlin-orchestrated referendums on the life of Moscow’s government. The votes were denounced in Kyiv and the West as illegal and rigged.
“We will not be deterred from supporting Ukraine, we will continue to support other Ukrainians and provide them with the security assistance they need to protect themselves, for as long as it takes,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. . .
Since the investment is earmarked for arms and apparatus contracts, it aims for Ukraine to meet its longer-term defense needs. It may take Ukraine a year or two to get the systems. The United States has used the Pentagon’s withdrawal authority to supply weapons more immediately. , with some other announcement for that Defense Department assistance expected early next week.
The package includes investment for 18 of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and ammunition for them, and 12 Titan systems, which are used to counter drones. Officials said HIMARS and other systems were key to the success of the war over Ukraine. in recent weeks. And the Russians have used Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian forces, underscoring the need for more systems to counter this threat.
The package will also include an investment for about three hundred vehicles, dozens of trucks and trailers for the shipment of heavy aircraft, a variety of radars, communications and surveillance apparatus and other apparatus for soldiers. It will also come with an investment for explosive detection devices, as well as maintenance and training.
The war, now in its seventh month, has entered a new phase, as Russia tries to recover from the losses of the struggle and uses referendums to politically consolidate the gains it has made in the 4 occupied regions of the south and east.
Pro-Russian officials in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions said Wednesday they would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate their provinces into Russia. It was not without delay that it was revealed how the administrative procedure would proceed.
Jean-Pierre said the United States had decided that Russia had falsified the effects of the referendums, which he said were overwhelming for annexation.
“These so-called referendums were an exercise in coercion and disinformation, carried out through the puppet government on Russia’s orders,” he said.
Jean-Pierre reported that the White House is preparing new sanctions against Russia in reaction to the referendums, saying the United States and its allies plan to impose a “serious economic burden on Russia as they move forward with annexation. “