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US announces $350mn in new military aid to Ukraine
The additional support comes at a time when Russian forces have stepped up their offensive across cities in Ukraine.
The United States has authorised an additional $350 million as immediate military assistance to Ukraine, taking its security support for Ukraine over the past year to over $1 billion.
On Saturday, in a statement, Secretary of State Antony J Blinken said that this package will include “further lethal defensive assistance to help Ukraine address the armored, airborne and other threats it is now facing”. “It is another clear signal that the United States stands with the people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereign, courageous and proud nation”.
Blinken said that the US had intensified its support to Ukraine since 2014 when Russia “invaded and partially occupied Ukraine” to help it deter further Russian aggression and “defend itself from additional attacks”.
Last fall, he authorised the department of defence to provide $60 million in immediate military assistance; in December, another tranche of $200 million was authorised to support Ukraine.
“Today… I have authorised an unprecedented third Presidential drawdown of $350 million for immediate support to Ukraine’s defence. This brings the total security assistance that the US has committed to Ukraine over the past year to more than $1 billion.”
Russia has cited the US military support to Ukraine as a key reason for its aggression, while the US has claimed that its assistance, on the request of the Ukrainian government, has been due to Russia’s aggression in the first place.
The additional support comes at a time when Russian forces have stepped up their offensive across cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv, while Ukraine’s armed forces are fighting back.
