Ukraine hopes for quick arrival of US weapons

Ukrainian officials yesterday expressed thanks for US$61 billion ($102.7b) in new United States military aid that threw Kyiv’s armed forces a lifeline in their more than two-year war with Russia, even though the supplies aren’t expected to have an immediate impact on the battlefield.

“The key now is speed,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X (Twitter). He urged quick deployment of the hardware that Kyiv expects to receive in the coming weeks and months.

US President Joe Biden signed into law the aid package yesterday.

Ukrainian troops are far outnumbered by Russian forces and have faced acute shortages of shells and air defence systems as political quarrels in Washington held up the aid for months, allowing the Kremlin’s forces to inch forward in parts of eastern Ukraine in what has largely become a war of attrition.

Also yesterday, officials confirmed the US last month secretly sent Ukraine a number of long-range missiles that Kyiv has urgently sought so that its forces can hit Russian forces well behind the front lines. Ukraine used them for the first time last week to strike an airfield in occupied Crimea, the US officials said.

The Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMs, have a range of some 300km. More are expected to be sent to Ukraine as part of the new US aid package.

Ukraine has lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25 in an effort to bolster the size of the military. Men aged between 18 and 60 who are deemed fit for miliary service will not be allowed to renew their passports from outside the country. The European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, says 4.3 million Ukrainians are living in EU countries, 860,000 of them men 18 years of age or older.

The Russian Army extended its bombardment of the northeastern Kharkiv region, and Ukrainian longrange drones struck more fuel and energy facilities inside Russia.