US steps up military support to Ukraine with $775m boost
THE US has said it will give Ukraine Scan Eagle surveillance drones, mine-resistant vehicles, anti-armour rounds and howitzer weapons to help regain territory and mount a counteroffensive against Russian invaders.
A senior defence official told reporters that a new $775 million aid package will include 15 Scan Eagles, 40 mineresistant, ambush-protected vehicles known as Mraps with mine-clearing rollers, and 2,000 anti-armour rounds that can help Ukraine troops move forward in the south and east, where Russian forces have placed mines.
The official said the US is looking to help shape and arm the Ukrainian force of the future as the war drags on.
This latest aid comes as Russia’s war on Ukraine is about to reach the six-month mark. It brings the total US military aid to Ukraine to about $10.6 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration.
It is the 19th time the Pentagon has provided equipment from Defence Department stocks to Ukraine since August 2021.
The US has provided howitzer ammunition in the past, but this is the first time it will send 16 of the weapon systems. The aid package also includes 1,500 anti-tank missiles, 1,000 javelin missiles and an undisclosed number of high-speed, anti-radiation or Harm missiles that target radar systems.
The Ukrainian forces have been successfully using various precision artillery systems to try to hold off Russian forces and take back territory Moscow has gained.
The defence official briefed reporters on the new weapons aid on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Defence Department.
For much of the last four months of the war, Russia has concentrated on capturing the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have controlled some territory as self-proclaimed republics for eight years.
Russian forces have made some incremental gains in the east, but they have also been put on the defensive in other regions, as Ukraine ratchets up its attacks in Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.