The US will send $1bn more military aid to Ukraine, its largest single drawdown since the beginning of war.
The latest package includes ammunition for Himars high mobility artillery rockets systems (Himars), tens or thousands of rounds of artillery, mortar ammunition, anti armour systems, and armoured treatment vehicles.
Since President Joe Biden was elected, the US has provided security aid to Ukraine totalling approximately $9.8bn.
The new US aid comes as Kyiv prepares to mount a fresh offensive in the south, where it hopes to take back 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 defence of its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russia’s aggression,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement.
“As this war stretches on, the courage and strength of Ukraine’s military and its people become even more evident and even more extraordinary. Together, we will continue to consult closely with Ukraine and surge additional available systems and capabilities carefully calibrated to make a difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraine’s eventual position at the negotiating table,” he added.
In recent months, some territory has been regained by Ukrainian forces in the southern regions. Despite this, neither side has gained much ground during a war of attrition, which has been reduced to bloody artillery duels, both in the southern and far eastern Donbas regions, since Russian forces failed in their attempt to capture Kyiv’s capital.
Colin Kahl, US under secretary of defence for policy, said Moscow had recently reported some “incremental gains” in the eastern part of Ukraine in the Donbas, but at great cost to the Russian military, which has been reporting a high number of casualties. This was a result of “how well the Ukrainian military performed and all the assistance that the Ukrainian military had gotten”, he said.
“Now conditions in the east have since stabilised and the focus is really shifting to the south, and in part that’s because the Ukrainians are starting to put some pressure down south and the Russians have been forced to redeploy their forces down there,” he added.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in 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, in order 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 ahead of the US announcement. “If today we have 20-30 then there should be 80-100 in order to be effective.”
“Otherwise, it will be a protracted war . . . it will be a costly war,” he added.
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